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Why should abled people care about & fight for access for disabled people? Y'know, besides the fact that disabled people are people? (Thread:)
You or someone you love could easily become disabled temporarily or permanently. It is a really “easy” club to join!
You or someone you love could easily become disabled temporarily or permanently. It is a really “easy” club to join!
You already enjoy infrastructure that disabled people FOUGHT for. Ever used a dolly to move heavy things or pushed a stroller full of your kids or ridden a bike and used a ramp or curbcut? Disabled people fought for that! https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_curb_cut_effect?cmp=EMC-DSM-NLC-LC-HOMFAM-20200624_LivableCommunities_899300_1315905-062420-F5-Curbs-Text-CTRL-4665131&encparam=65LoIcH%2b%2f0vex%2f2Jh6PzyQ1oCkoKOvxW6RgLGrAa0NQ%3d
Ever apply for and get a temporarily disabled placard so you didn't have to struggle as much to get to school/work/home when you had a broken leg or were recovery from surgery? Disabled people fought for that!
English isn't your first language and you're watching a film/lecture but you're tired and having trouble keeping up, captions are helpful, yes?
(This goes for subtitles/captions for spoken content in any language...I just happen to default to US English.)
Did you know some people get RSI (repetitive strain injury) as a complication of pregnancy? It's nice if accommodated equipment to choose from is already easily available!
When you decide to have a child or adopt one and they're born with a disability and/or develop one during childhood, wouldn't parenting be easier if schools/childcare had accessible & inclusive processes and equipment so your kid gets the best happiest education possible?
How about when there's a global pandemic and the door and elevator has a foot button so you don't need to touch fomite-covered surfaces with your hands? Disabled people fought & fight for that!
Or how about when there's a global pandemic and people need to learn remotely only school/university administrations have been denying disabled students that option for decades & everyone suddenly doesn't know how to migrate their classes? You could have been prepared!
Or you move into a building without an elevator when you're abled, middle-aged and athletic, and you adore the location and your neighbors and don't want to move, but your knees just gave up & suddenly you need that elevator...you really don't want to move.
Or you used to just zip around on an upright bike with a handlebar rack, but you've realized you'd really like to use a bakfiets only your home/school/work/city only have narrow cycle racks because cycles disabled ppl ride were "too expensive" to accommodate?
And how about all the really brilliant funny awesome people that you never get the chance to meet because you live, work, and go to school in places that aren't accessible and those great people will never be where you are unless you fight for #AccessNow?
p.s. I forgot a really big one - while we focus on the deaths from COVID19, we don't focus on what life is like when someone survives it. Not everyone is back 100% to the function they had before. Lung damage, neuro symptoms...it'd be great not to have ableist barriers on top!
