Accessibility! Ableism! Disabled people! What do these words mean to you?
20% of the UK are disabled. We are the biggest minority that is always forgotten, despite encompassing all other minority groups: Women, LGBTQIA+, Black People & People of Colour… Disability can and will affect every single person in the world at some point, and yet ableism is a form of discrimination most people have never heard of.
Access has many different meanings, as you’ll find out if you listen to my podcast episode with Cassie Herschel-Shorland, an Inclusive Design Consultant. A bonus episode with Cassie is up on my Patreon, as well as early access to all future podcast episodes and other exclusive content, so if you’d like to support me and be the first to listen you can click here!
As a person with dyslexia, Cassie enlightened me on how neurodiverse needs are ignored along with physical disabilities, and why museums became her safe space. I learnt so much from talking with her and if you haven’t ever heard of inclusive design or are curious as to what makes an event or place accessible, you will love this episode! Accessibility is something that is hardly ever mentioned. Most people’s interpretation of access is a wheelchair ramp or lift in a building with stairs. What about inaccessible lighting? Doorways that are too narrow for mobility aids? So much of what affect and limit disabled people every day, the majority of us would never even consider a problem.
This week, I am quoting myself.
We call people ‘disabled’ when it is Society that is unable to accommodate or provide for them.
It goes back to nature. If a flower is not blooming, we change the environment rather than calling the flower ‘disabled’. Why do we blame people for their diverse abilities when every individual has different abilities? Society, the environment our ‘civilisation’ has built, is lacking. How advanced can we really be when so many of us are suffering?
Things that people fought for, that people need to access life outside their homes, have been removed: Disabled parking spaces and benches. Meanwhile, inaccessible measures have been introduced, like enforced queuing. We can do better, though. We must.
Love,
HB x
Illustration by Cassie!