Ville-valides: blog about disabled in the modern world
I was raised in a loving family where much attention was put into appreciating differences and supporting the beloved ones in need. I experienced disability in many occasions in my life. First, indirectly, as I was growing up and discovering different abilities and disabilities of my peers. Then in a more direct way through volunteer work and my friends. Finally, I was faced with a very personal experience of living disability of my beloved ones.
Technically, I know nothing about disabilities and I am not disabled myself. Practically, my family and I became experts-by-practice of a tiny part of a very specific knowledge that was related to our beloved ones’ conditions. We learned everything from scratch, we learned everything about their disability.
First came the urgent need to assure they have all the necessary medical treatment and equipment. We don’t have a doctor in the family and even though my mom is a nurse, which helped a lot, she was struggling too. The second important thing was the everyday care they needed to get better or to not get worse: special diet, diet supplements, adapted clothing and body care products, etc. And then, there was a sophisticated life organization that involved all of us to change our schedules and habits to enable every member of the family to live a quality life: fulfill their dreams, achieve their personal and professional plans, perform our weekly and daily schedules.
New lifestyle, from nutrition, through logistics to family life. It was hard to believe that our new life was so distinctive from what we considered to be a standard life before. We believed the gap we were experiencing is unique for us as we were newbies to the situation, but then we started meeting other disabled and their beloved ones. And this is when I started noticing patterns and exceptions from the rules, some common, diverging and even contradictory problems, solutions, experiences. In terms of medical and everyday care, there is a progress, since there is more and more products and services designed to serve very specific needs of the disabled. But when it comes to everyday life and the cities, there is often no place for them.
There is a gap between what a standardized societies consider a norm and what a diverse population of disabled deal with to stay included. A small part of this gap is due to the disabilities and limitations they impose, but a huge part of the gap is artificially created through thoughtlessness or unconsciousness. It’s a terrifying conclusion, but also and amazing opportunity. This means that we could potentially fix this issues by adapting our cities to serve us better. All of us.
Thus, the name of the blog is Ville-valides, a city-valid tribe. It’s a word trick composed of ville (fr. city) and invalide (fr. disabled). Ville-valides is a place to share knowledge, experiences and ideas. I am on the beginning of the explorations and I would love you, dear ville-valid reader, to join me on the journey to make our cities a more inclusive place to live in for all.
