to suggest we have a new 'national service' where everyone has to spend one month a year with a disability

[StrangeAndUnusual]

Your disability is assigned randomly and is different every time. You live with all the social/access restrictions that disability entails, while carrying on with your life.

I think it would create a sea-change in disability access provision. Might even make people more pleasant to people who actually have disaiblities, too.

Just a thought ...

I totally agree. I injured myself a few years ago and ended up using a wheelchair for months. It totally changed the way I see accessibility and challenges for disabled people betting around and managing their lives.

that's really interesting. @juliesaway. I'd love to hear what sort of things changed your mind.

Nope.

Who decides who should take part? I have an invisible disability that doesn't massively affect my everyday life, but does a bit.

And how severe are we going?

What about mental health?

You only need people in charge of deciding and implementing the rules about accessibility etc to have a better understanding.

Interesting thought, but who's going to cover those roles where a disability would make a job impossible, but the public depend on those roles being covered (a surgeon who is assigned blindness/a paramedic who is assigned severe cerebral palsy/etc)?

What a ridiculous idea

It's quite an interesting thought experiment.

Interesting idea, but I think the same purpose could be fulfilled by including more disabled people at higher level management, planning and development. I think it would be quite difficult to implement as surely people could just cheat? And how do you make someone blind / deaf / paraplegic for a month, or give them SEN or a genetic disorder? My father has Parkinson’s, I have no idea how you could emulate that in real life. And would you have to do this if you already have a disability (you’re just given a different one)?

No thanks.
I already have people thinking they can speak for me because they once had to use a crutch for a week when they sprained their ankle.
I don’t want people to think they know what being disabled is like from one month of experience because then they will think they can speak for me.

I want people to just damn well listen to disabled people and understand what we are saying about our experiences is true. I don’t have to wear black face to listen to a black person and hear what they are going through, I just accept they are speaking the truth about their experience.

How do you"pretend" to have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or HIV or schizophrenia?

No thanks. I’m not registered disabled but I have pain & mobility issues which cause huge disruptions to my life & my family. I also struggle with my mental health (although it’s currently under control).

Im Not a blue badge, radar key carrying disabled person so my struggles are invisible. I don’t want to be forced to adopt another disability on top of my existing ones so I can feel more empathy. I feel it already, even if my own struggles are not recognised.

What a ridiculous idea
I don't think the OP meant it as a real idea!

There are three parts to this.

One is the Politicians, who sadly, if Tory, don't give a shit.

Another are planners, for public places. More focus groups at planning stage is definitely what we need. My local Lidl was being expanded and even in the early building stages I could see issues. At the time I was taking my Wheelchair using Mum out daily. Likewise when I go shopping, use crossings etc.

The third is transport. I think more training and consequence is needed for any type of Transport Staff that do not respond to a disabled person needing help. We have protests and the rail strikes, here in Liverpool because they want to remove the Guards from trains, which will make traveling for some disabled people a nightmare.

I understand were you are coming from and there seems to be an increase in animosity towards anyone who dares to be disabled.

You could replicate that experiment on other life experiences too:

Everyone has to be on NMW for a month
Everyone has to be a pedestrian or cyclist for a month
Everyone has to be a single parent for a month
etc.

Already have a disability

I'm deaf, on antidepressants and very strong painkillers for chronic pain.

I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy so it's a pass from me

What? Why on earth would you want to make the entire population less able to function for 1/12th of every year. That's totally crazy. The country couldn't function.

You can teach/have compassion and consideration without knowing what something is like. I like it when people understand my mental health issues but I don't want them to have to experience them ffs.

It's a disability - not something we should be deliberately asking people to live with!

I was in hospital with my DD a few months ago, and I was struggling to unfold my camp bed (I'm blind, and there was a little hidden hook holding it shut). A passing nurse noticed & unhooked it for me. During the stay she did quite a few similar little acts of kindness. Each only took a moment or two. No one else ever noticed, and once when I asked for help with something, the person got irritated (hospitals are busy places after all).

This nurse told me she'd previously been a disability support worker and had been on a week-long training course where she was put in the position of the disabled person.

She said the most terrifying experience of her life was having to cross a busy road with a blindfold on. (There was a sighted person by her side so she wasn't risking actual death).

I laughed and said that's a daily experience for me (not to mention that i'm deaf too, which makes it harder), but she said it transformed her perspective on disability. I found that quite thought-provoking. Her attitude was so different to everyone else's.

Who is going to look after my disabled husband for the month whilst I'm busy dealing with my own disability?

If I didn't make it clear, it's not the disability itself that you'd have to live with in my new world order.

It's the SOCIAL/ACCESS RESTRICTIONS. That's very different.

And spend the day as the carer of someone with severe learning difficulties, challenging behaviour etc.

And yes, more of a thought experiment than an actual likely thing that's going to happen. If that wasn't clear ... ;)

It would be good to do one of those escape the room things where everyone has been assigned a different disability.

As a thought experiment great idea.

I don't think most people would hack more than 72 hours though!

@ShotsFired Yes, I agree, it would work well for things other than disability too. Basically any life situation where a bit of actually-being-in-that-position-yourself could trigger people to change their mindset about opening up accessibility.