I forget where I read it (might have been a post on here) but someone said disabled and abled people aren't two separate groups of people, but just the same people at different points in their life. As some things become more difficult for me to do as I age, I see the truth in that.
I know people caught beef with her, but her Shakespeare's Sister blog was a treasure trove of lived experiences that taught me a lot of things I needed later.
To be clear, I’m not saying there’s a disability Olympics or that my experience was the same as yours. It’s that I knew intellectually that life is hostile for wheelchair users, and getting a small taste of that daily life was still eye-opening.
And it’s not a clear slide into increasing need for accommodation either. Sometimes it’s temporary, sometimes it’s permanent. People get injured at all ages. People of all ages need to push strollers or pull carts or use walkers or wheelchairs. Everyone is vulnerable to disease.
i used to not care about the magnifier in windows until i had issues with my eyes and until i had those issues fixed i had magnifier as a hotkey on one of my mouse buttons
A friend of mine, already established as an architect, went blind as an adult. He redesigned SF's Lighthouse for the Blind and is a *tremendous* advocate for accessible design. Also a wonderful dude and a badass rower. 💙💚💙
(If you've seen the 60 Min ep on The Blind Architect, that's the guy.)
It’s not even not caring; when the world is already designed around your physical abilities, accessibility (and lack thereof) is totally invisible to you. I was like this! Then I had a kid, and had to use a stroller, and suddenly I started noticing things I’d never looked twice at.
I remember my grandfather complaining for years about all the “wasted” handicapped parking spots at the mall. When my grandmother became disabled he griped for years about how there weren’t enough handicapped spots.
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I know people caught beef with her, but her Shakespeare's Sister blog was a treasure trove of lived experiences that taught me a lot of things I needed later.
"The able and the disabled aren’t two different kinds of people but the same people at different times."
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/tom-scocca-medical-mystery-essay.html
Then I needed to use a scooter at a convention and got a very harsh lesson in both physical accessibility and the ways wheelchair users are othered.
Like… I advocate for this and I still had NO idea. Sending ❤️
It's part of why Memento Disability doesn't really work, I think.
I'm thinking they'd be on the payroll as consultants/freelancers.
Disabled students would not be exempt because they can miss other people's needs too.
(If you've seen the 60 Min ep on The Blind Architect, that's the guy.)
Although to be fair, it turns out they didn’t have one in the ladies’ room, either.