Always Talking About Disability

There's a reason that people with disabilities seem to always talk about disability. It's because we never get to stop thinking about it and we never get to stop experiencing it. Being disabled requires so much planning. We have to check every place we want to go for accessibility. Is there a ramp? Will I feel well enough to go up the 3 steps into the businesses? Is the doorway wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair? Is the elevator working? Is there a Braille menu? Does the cinema have a hearing loop? Is there a toilet that can accommodate a wheelchair plus a carer?

People have good intentions, but they don't seem to care about fixing the system. Instead of a permanent ramp at the main entrance they'll offer to carry you in or have you flag them down to put out the ramp, or have you go around the back past the dumpsters to go through the service entrance. They'll offer to read the menu to you when they have a minute. Or they'll just tell you that the thing you need to be part of society is not available.

Fixing the system is known as the social model of disability. If you remove the societal barriers of inaccessibility then people with disabilities are no longer (or are less) disabled. It views inequity as the thing that disables people. Imagine if able bodied people had to jump from one level of a building to the next. That's ridiculous, so stairs are put in as an accommodation. We need to continue that line of reasoning to include accommodations for disabled people. It would be nice to take a break from planning around my disability, which I can only do if accommodations are routinely and universally put in place. Until then, I'm going to keep talking about disability.