Image Description: A photo of a disability parking sign that reads “Blue badge holders only.”
Sorry, but I just lured you in with a trick question. The answer is: you don’t. And: is it any of your business if someone has a disability? If you believe it is, why is that? Are you policing someone and is that really your responsibility?
I confess that I am often looking for other disabled people when I am out and about. I am curious and want to connect with others, find how they manage things, learn about differences in our disabilities. Its nosy and not really my place, but I admit that I have these feelings. However, I think it is somewhat OK because I seek out others with disabilities in the spirit of connection and camaraderie, not because I am trying to police or regulate others.
What I’d like to do in this article is turn this question on its head. We actually don’t need to know if someone has a disability, what it is, how long, how severe, and all the many personal details that are rude and intrusive to ask. (And frankly, none of our beeswax.)
What we do need to know is how to accommodate people with disabilities. We should be asking different questions, such as: is our community accessible? If not, what can be changed to make it so? What physical design should be adjusted? What attitudes should be changed? What policies and procedures should be updated to be welcoming of people with disabilities?
An Example of What Not to Do
Let’s borrow a scenario from Haben Girma (who is deafblind) about when she started college and visited the cafeteria for the first time, only to find that the printed menus were inaccessible to her. She explained that she needed an alternate format, such as Braille or digital (so she could use her screenreader), to the manager. He said he didn’t have time to “help with her special needs” (Girma hilariously points out that eating is not a special need) and refused to provide an alternate format.
Being young and inexperienced, yet in advocacy, Girma left and researched the issue (she later became the first deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School and an expert in disability law). She learned of her rights to accessibility accommodations for her disability and returned to speak with the manager. She explained that he could either provide the cafeteria menu in an alternate format or she could proceed with a legal action against them. He quickly changed his mind.
Watch Girma tell the story herself at a recent event — it’s quite humorous, as well as educational.
While Haben Girma handled the situation expertly (especially for a young college student just starting out in her advocacy), should she have had to? Perhaps the cafeteria manager didn’t understand disability and what accommodations were needed. But when Girma asked, wouldn’t the easier response have been to figure it out with her? What time, energy, and money was wasted in this unnecessary (and unwelcoming) attitude? Conceivably, the menu was already typed into a computer for printing. Couldn’t this file have merely been sent to Girma for her to use her screenreader, without the agony of this argument?
A Welcoming Approach
My feeling is that I can forgive a lot of inaccessibility, if the attitude of people is well-intentioned and welcoming to disabled people. It is hard (if not impossible) to have complete knowledge of every type of disability and reasonable accommodations to suit this universe.
In my mind, the basics should really be everywhere. Every place should be at least wheelchair accessible with wide enough doors and no stairs for entry. This is the bottom level of welcome mat because wheelchair accessibility is well known and standards were established in the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is now more than 30 years old. This can no longer be considered a surprise!
Another very baseline accessibility accommodation is communication (like menus, for example) being available in multiple formats. This means written and digital (such as on an accessible website). This helps everyone — people who are blind, or older (and need to zoom in on their phones to read easier), and more.
After this, there needs to be a sign or message regularly conveyed: if you need it, ask for help or accommodations and we will do our best to assist. The first part is setting the stage that disabled people can ask for what they need for accessibility accommodations. The second part is a commitment to try to help. This is crucial: making the invitation and promising to try.
Displaying this attitude is what commitment to disability inclusion and accessibility accommodations is all about. We know the world is a work in progress and want people to be trying. To be honest, it may not be possible. For example, if your business is in an old building up a step I will just not be able to enter. But perhaps you have a phone number I could call and could bring your business outside (my husband’s barber cut my hair on the sidewalk and is now working on getting a ramp!) or over the phone? Or maybe you want to build a ramp and I could tell you where to put it? The point is that we need a dialogue, but first people have to demonstrate that they are willing to hear feedback, consider the needs of disabled people, and truly work to accommodate them as they can (without quizzing us about our personal disability stories).
Coming Full Circle
Hopefully it has become clear that we don’t need to know if someone has a disability and the specifics of it. What we do need, is the willingness to accommodate disabled people, listen to what they need, and work to make the world a little more accessible every day.
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Another great post, thanks.