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 ...

Patronising at best, insulting at worst.

Thanks @DailyMailBestForBurns - I hadn't read that before. Interesting. Not what I'm suggesting, but i see the relevance. I don't want to give people actual disabilities. I want people to experience the unnecessary-and-completely-removable-restrictions that being disabled entails - so that they are more minded to remove them.

So it becomes obvious that we should build accessible buildings & transport without unnecessary steps and provide hearing loops and subtitles and BSL interpretation and have audio-description technology as standard and not block guide dogs from getting on with their work etc etc etc.

So it'd just be a no-brainer to do this. because none of us like having our day-to-day lives disrupted by stupid and unnecessary restrictions.

Pointless. They don't actually have the disability so how could you they weren't breaking the rules. Who would monitor it? It would be very costly. You could tag them, but no society should be tagging people who are blamed.

I think it would be better to educate people, disability training mandatory for all employers.
And such like,
People pretending to be disabled would be awful,
How do they get to understand in that short space of time what a life time of being disabled is like. They can't.

This actually fills me with dread. My df had a series of strokes starting when I was in my teens. They didn’t leave him physically disabled but brain damaged. The thought of inflicting that pain on my children for even a day is unbearable.

I understand what you’re trying to do but disabilities are not just physical.

I have a disability which is a life limiting condition.

I would not want anyone else to have i- even for a day.

could i have tourettes?

Also, disabled people are always at risk of attack, much more likely to be assaulted than any other groups.

How much would that increase if people thought they were pretending

Is this thread still here ?

OP hope you don’t mind me asking I’m just curious..

You said upthread you’re deaf and blind, how did you communicate with the nurse at the hospital? Are you partially deaf?

You said upthread you’re deaf and blind, how did you communicate with the nurse at the hospital? Are you partially deaf?

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.googlecode.eyesfree.brailleback&hl=en_GB

DG why the face? I have absolutely zero experience of either type of disability so was curious.

It wouldn’t work. My DD was in a wheelchair for two months, she needed my help with using the toilet, washing and eating. In those two months we found every single person we came across bent over backwards to help us, bouncers carrying her in her chair up steps, shop staff allowing her to use staff facilities, the lot. So if I were to base my thoughts on disabled peoples access to everything on our experience of short term disability, I’d think there was no problems at all. As it happens, I know that’s not the case, but there will be many who’d think it was.

DG why the hmm face? I have absolutely zero experience of either type of disability so was curious.

It was to indicate I had no idea whether the PP in question used that (or any app). Just that there are such things available. No slight intended.

YABU

It's not a good idea. At all.

Consequences could be far reaching and have a negative impact on wider society which outweighs any benefit that could be gained. For instance it may well make my job impossible- so are you going to pay me for not working? Also, are you going to employ a locum to cover my shifts (if you can get one)? And if not, what about the impact on the hospital and the patients? Patient's waiting longer for treatment, waiting times rising, operations being cancelled (assuming as it's random and you have no idea what/when, there won't be a huge amount of notice) - all costing the hospital money. Now multiply that once a year for every employee. Ludicrous.

Nice thought experiment, but that's about it.

People with certain disabilities cannot do my job, that is the bottom line. And there is no amount of "adjustments" that could allow certain disabilities to do so- a blind person cannot perform surgery, someone who has no use of their hands can't either. Someone who is so fatigued they can't concentrate for long periods is in a similar boat. It is just the way it is.

If it was a case of trying to enforce the "living with a disability" during leisure time, I still wouldn't agree with it, but at least it would be slightly more practical. And how would it be enforced? What would the punishment for not complying be?

It is the unfortunate case these days that being an invalid means one is invalid. Not keen on the language, though.
This as a thought experiment is interesting, op has clearly stated that she doesn't want people to have the disabilities, but the consequences of said disabilities. Personally, I'm not sure. I do get harassed in supermarkets for being slow at checkouts, people tutting and what have you, I have arthritis, because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there. I'm also autistic and have ulcerative colitis; you can see none of these disabilities, but the consequences of the woman in the charity shop not letting me use the loo are embarrassing, painful and limiting.

Twice I ended up in ongoing pain for several due to SPD in pregnancy/ postnatally. First time, I ended up stuck in the house in the final weeks as I could no longer drive or walk/ access public transport. Second time, I managed to keep more mobile on crutches.

I won't claim that it was a realistic experience of life with a disibility. In particular, knowing that that my body should resolve its problems and that normality would resume would be a significant difference particularly for mental wellbeing.

Shuffling around on crutches was different to experiences with my wheelchair using best mate. She could manage stairs on her crutches, but we had experiences where bouncers took a look at her wheelchair and barred her from entry even though she could access stairs herself. In other venues bouncers were very keen to attempt chilvery and carry her.

I grew up with a relative with severe learning disabilities "fortunately" they were fairly obvious and fairly unobtrusive to other people, so our family's experience would be different to someone with hidden difficulties, or people who attract negative attention with meltdowns.

People learn the limitations and adaptions of their own needs and don't necessarily understand those of others. A couple of days ago, there was a radio debate about blue badges... one wheelchair using man gave several very legitimate points about why he needs the width of the bay and proximity to a venue, but couldn't comprehend why that wouldn't be of legitimate benefit to a person with difficulties such as autism where they might need a reliable safe space.

@StrawberryMummy90

I have about 30% of my hearing and 5% of my vision. That's known as deafblindness (i.e. when both sight and hearing are impaired enough that they can't compensate for each other in the ways that 'solely' deaf or blind people commonly use).

I communicate through speech, though need specific conditions (and my hearing aids) for this to work.

I've been disabled for the past four decades, with associated pain. I reckon I should be exempt.

Yes, let's just force people to do something that we (patronisingly) feel like. It doesn't take some idiotic experiment to figure out what life is like for disabled people because humans have the evolutionary advantage called empathy. The only reason why someone doesn't understand is either because they can't (because they have an intellectual disability or a personality disorder effecting empathy) or they just don't care enough to try to empathise. I assume you would like to target the latter. If you use your empathy then you would realise that inconveniencing them would just piss them off.

because some humans have the evolutionary advantage called empathy.

would be more accurate ...

Good idea, @EggsonHeads. An empathy test will be administered, and those that pass will be exempt :)

@SilverySurfer, you can be exempt too. I am sure you would pass the empathy test for others with different disabilities.