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 ...

Can I spend a month a year without my disability please? Xxx

The problem is you can't bring on pain/fatigue which for me is such a huge part of the disability. That's the bit that is so draining.

But totally get your idea! I think a lot of it is down to people just not realising. At school we once had a man with a vision impairment come along with his dog and he let us ask any questions we had. Those ones you wouldn't go up to a random person on the street and it was such a great idea, and really helped us understand him.

In another issue my local council were making changes to the town centre that would make life much, much harder for wheelchair users. I spent two years asking if any of the decision makers wanted to come along - no press, just them and use my wheelchair to make the trip they were asking us to. No one ever took me up on that offer, and I made it many times.

Until I was in a wheelchair I had no idea how poor the access was out and about such as no dropped kerbs, or kerbs that weren't flush so you just slam into them and so on. How one car parked in the wrong place can mean the wheelchair having to go back miles just to carry on their journey or whatever.

So obviously no one is going to inflict a real disability on someone, but people being demonstrated some of this difficulties at a young age may mean the person who in school was asked to use a wheelchair and navigate somewhere and struggled, when they grow up to be an architect or town planner might just think of those issues!

Or if everyone in power just followed the laws we already had that would be lovely please!

What do you hope to achieve out of this? Anything mandatory is going to breed contempt. Faking disability is never the same as the actual thing and many people will walk away feeling 'Oh this is not so bad, wonder why they make a fuss and get paid so much?'

What if you already have a disability,as I do? I wouldn't want another on top of it.

barefoofdoctor
Can I spend a month a year without my disability please? Xxx

What a brilliant idea, being able to walk without a frame and being pain free for a month a year works for me.

@barefootdoctor - absolutely, you can have a month a year without your disability. In fact, you can choose which public figure will take on your disability for that month.

I absolutely think that all MPs should regularly have to traverse their constituency in a wheelchair. Also with a blindfold and cane.

@GiltterNails, my MP suggestion above came from your comment

I think the plan is really taking shape now.

I think with scientific advantages there will be less disabilities in the future. My hope is there will be more money available then to spend on those who still have disabilities. To give them better supports and back up. That's my hope. I do think things are getting better all the time with all new buildings having better access etc. All new shopping centres having parking for drivers with disabilities. We do need much more education about respecting parking spaces and access in footpaths and I love the idea of someone visiting schools with an " ask me anything" event.

I once went on a teaching course about visual impairment where we got handed a pair of goggles at the start of the day, each pair adapted to represent a different impairment. We had to wear them all day, it was a brilliant course!!
Yes I do think a bit of practical experience would open the world up a bit.
I wonder if any schools or colleges would be up for some sort of project?

As someone with an invisible disability, sorry, but I hate this idea. Because even if it was just access/social barriers, at the end of the day/week/month/whatever, you get to go back to your life.

My disability is permanent, and I REALLY dislike the idea of it being used as an educational experience for others.

People are always being told to " educate themselves". Fear of saying the wrong thing often shuts people down completely because they don't know how to react. You don't have to see yourself as an educational opportunity ( which has to be pretty crap in fairness) but some people do try to learn the right way to respond.
Saying a "Down's baby" is pretty insulting but actually I was thought to say "a baby with Down's" in a disability communication workshop. I might have come to it on my own or I might have remained ignorant all my life.

@FreudianSlurp - that is a good idea. Would you mind telling me the name of the disability rights group? (You could PM if you'd rather not post it) - I'd be interested to find out if they operate in my area.

@Froggyonaplate - that is really interesting. Do you know the name of the training company? I'd really like to investigate that a bit more. Maybe I could request my MP to wear goggles similar to my impairment for a day around and about the constituency.

Is there an accessible journey planner for London ?

I don't mean a list of accessible stations. I mean a service which can plan a journey with no steps ....

Totally agree with TempusEejit. A lot of people would be able to cope with a disability if they knew it was only temporary,in the same way that the MP who 'experienced' a week on JSA said it was 'do-able'. When you know there's an end in sight,whether it's to do with money worries or a disability,it's never going to feel as bad as something that could be indefinite.

I already have a disability, do I have to do a year with another one?

Sorry Strange it was years ago, run by Greenwich local authority education dept I think. She just used those science goggles with a combination of bubble wrap and black card I think, so probably doable to replicate it if you can persuade a group of MPs to participate.

Pp are right it is temporary and so, no you'd get nowhere near the full impact but surely anything that opens people's minds a bit is a good thing?