5 Things Everyone Should Know About People with Disabilities
Living with a disability isn’t easy. I would know.
I would know because I have Cerebral Palsy. Simply put, in my case, this means that I have trouble walking. I also have trouble with things like spatial relations, directions, and perception. Unless I physically walk somewhere, I often have trouble remembering where places are and often cannot tell people where to go if they ask me for directions. Additionally, I often have trouble discerning depth of space or whether an area is flat or steep.
Often times it can feel like the ground underneath me is unsafe, even if it isn’t.
The manifestation of my disability, as described above, isn’t something that someone without a disability would know — or even something someone with a disability might know — unless they experienced it themselves or spent extended time with me.
Throughout my life I’ve interacted with many people, both with and without disabilities. Specifically, in regards to people without disabilities, I’ve often received questions about how they should approach us and how they should interact with us.
It seems like a simple question with an obvious answer, but it is and it isn’t.
Every disability is different. Even for those who have the exact same disability, the degree to which that disability presents itself can be vastly different. Despite these differences, however, I feel like there are broad concepts about accessibility, and how to approach it, that those in the disability community would agree upon.
My personal experience with disability — as well as my fairly recent professional work in the field of accessibility and inclusion — has given me the chance to discern what, in my opinion, are the top five things about disability that people without disabilities should know.
I’ve constructed this article as a guide to help people better interact with people who have disabilities and I hope that this piece serves as a starting point for those who have questions on the subject.
5. People with disabilities aren’t (always) like what you see in the movies or on television.
Those of us who have disabilities are almost always not like the characters portrayed in movies and TV shows. Stereotypical versions abound in these cases. You have the mean girl with down syndrome or the villain in the superhero movie, who is so resentful of their disability that they have to go and do bad things because they know no other way to cope. Think Becky from “Glee” or the scientist in “Wonder Woman”. The issue here is not that people with disabilities can’t be resentful of their disability or feel negatively about it. We can, and we do, but not all of the time. And more often than not, we don’t hold our disability against others. Disability is a natural part of the lived experience and those of us with disabilities are as varied and complex as anyone else.
4. People with disabilities don’t fit into a pre-determined box and you can’t make us.
Building on point number five, those of us who have disabilities don’t fit a standard definition. Contrary to popular belief, there isn’t a “Person with a Disability” checklist that you can download to help you understand what or who a person with a disability is. Often times, I come across people who think that people with disabilities are linear, that we all fall on the same line, feel the same things, or have the same experiences. If I check off A, B, C, and D on my checklist, then I definitely know they are a person with a disability, they think. This line of thinking is simply not true. What is true, however, is that people with disabilities are individuals just like you.
Some of us are loud. Some of us are quiet. We flirt. We laugh. We tell dirty jokes. We go to college. We hold jobs. We have relationships.
Or, we don’t do any of those things. But it isn’t a non-disabled person’s job to decide what we do and don’t do, or to define us. It’s ours.
3. Some people with disabilities like to talk about it while others don’t.
While I was working on my Master’s project at Teachers College, I interviewed people with and without disabilities about their thoughts on the subject and how disability impacted their lives. I discovered that some people with disabilities are okay with talking about it while others were not. The level of comfort depended on two things: personal preference and depth of relationships.
One friend of mine asserted that he talked about disability all of the time because he understood and knew that it impacted all areas of his life. He also mentioned that he appreciated when people asked him questions about it because it showed that they really cared. On the other hand, another friend mentioned that he hated having conversations about disability because he felt that other people didn’t need to know and that the questions were often invasive.
Those without disabilities often mentioned wanting to know more, but that they didn’t feel capable or entitled to the information.
They’re right, and they’re wrong. Personally, I think it’s okay to ask questions. But it’s important that you ask questions in a sincere way, without an agenda. Get to know a person with a disability as a person first. If you build a relationship of trust and friendship as people first, then more often than not, conversations about disability will happen naturally.
2. People with disabilities are everywhere.
According to the U.S. Census, 1 in 5 Americans is reported as having a disability. People with disabilities are the largest minority group and make up 20% of the population. 53.9% of those are school aged children, while 9.9% are aged 16–64. This large of a number means that, more than likely, you know someone with a disability, or have interacted with someone with a disability, even if you don’t realize it. Disabilities can be visible and invisible, so just because you can’t see it, or someone doesn’t disclose a disability to you, doesn’t mean that they don’t have one.
- Interacting with people with disabilities means enacting an “attitude of access.”
Accessibility is so much more than physical barriers. It’s an attitude of access. Enacting an attitude of access means being aware of how you are practicing accessibility. Practicing accessibility encompasses everything from making sure that spaces are accessible, to creating relevant content, to using appropriate language, and, most importantly, examining expectations about what people with disabilities can and cannot do.
When interacting with people who have disabilities, are you talking to them directly? Making eye contact? Have you made sure that accommodations are available should they be needed? Do you have accessible formats of information, such as large print or braille maps? Do you put materials within easy reach? Have you created content that is relevant and includes an authentic voice?
These are all ideas and concepts that people need to be thinking about when considering accessibility.
While I believe that these five points are the most important to consider when thinking about accessibility and inclusion, there are certainly more.
Additionally, I am only one person and cannot speak for everyone with a disability. If you have anything to add to this list, please feel free to reach out. I would love to dialogue about it!
