Disability - what's your perception of this - thread is open to all comers

[Janeway]

I've intentionally not put this into the "special needs" section as some people without first hand experience of such issues have said that they find that area of the site a bit of a no-go area (though I'm sure that that is not the intention of regular posters in that area)and I hope that this may be of interest to a wider audience.

In real life I talk often on Inclusive Design to building professionals and the wider world (having been given a thorough education by disabled people)and find that there are still some very strange perceptions and predjudices. Having spotted an 'off the cuff' remark on another thread I wondered if it might be worthwhile and timeous (with the last section of the Disability Discrimination Act less than a year away)to look at the subject of disability.

I'd like to first suggest an alternate view of disability....

....a person may have an impairment in the use of a limb. organ or sensory function, but this only becomes a disability when they encounter an obstacle in the environment (either physical or attidudinal) that will not accomodate them.

i.e. it is the way that we construct our society that is disabling many of our people. An example is that if we put ladders instead of steps in front of buildings more people would be disabled, whereas if we built buildings with the ground floor closer to the ground (level access) less poeple would be disabled in their attempt to get in.

We all have very different needs and abilities throughout our life

• childhood sees young boys unable to pee in urinals due to the height their put in
• old age sees us unable to open doors cos we can't grip the knobs
• pregnancy sees us unable to get out of our car cos of the width of the parking space. Disabled people are not another breed or another gender, those we chose to call 'disabled' simply fall outwith the spectrum of the human condition that we as a society have chosen to cater for within the mainstream. We are all just a step away from being on the other side of that dividing line.

Many of the people who I've worked with reject the "special needs" lable, as they argue that their needs are the same as anyones - just the way you go about providing for those needs might be different.

Most disabled people are striving to work and contribute their talents to the benifit of our ecomomy. Disabled people and their families in this country together currently represent a disposible income of £50billion per year. It is our perceptions that are preventing them working and spending their cash in our businesses - and perhaps our reluctance to face up to the reality of their lives - prefering to wrap them up in benefits and care systems and keep them hidden away. One has to wonder if we're not all missing out here.... what if Stephen Hawking had hung up his braincells when he became ill, or Julie Fernandez (the blond one from 'the office' had been content with benefits - the list goes on - ... would we not have been a less colourful world?

I'll get off my soap box now and listen to your thoughts....

Blu, I agree with you that we shouldn't make automatic judgements about what people with disabilities can do, any more than we do for everyone else. The point I was making was that my tutor felt that every thing was a possibility for disabled people, if only society could get it's act together. I just can't accept that this is the case for disabled people, any more than it is for the rest of the population.

For example my dh is a pilot. Your friend couldn't do his job, regardless of the level of provision that was made for her. For that matter, I couldn't do his job either, I've rubbish eyesight, and non-existant 3-D thinking skills! It doesn't make either your friend or me less valuable, just different, but it doesn't alter the fact that some jobs can only be done with people with specific skills.

I agree hmb- your tutor has misunderstood disability.

Blu (with tongue firmly in cheek) I think you should have said 'Fire Fighter'

But I agree with you, language is a bugger to deal with. What we need is a society that accepts all differences as valid, and accepts that we all have different strengths and weaknesses.

HMB: you're quite right...for all I know he could be growing up transgendered and want to be a Firewoman

And, hmb, I think we agree. . I agree with Jimjams: your tutor was carried away!

Doormat: that's brilliant!

Nice one Doormat - yellow for sunshine - although yellow is also used to describe cowadice, which when you have SN, or a disability of sorts you most certainly are not cowardly. I still like yellow for your reasons though Doormat. Perhaps as an alternative red may be good - red is a strong, brave colour - ?????

I know what you're saying JimJams and Janeway, I just find it such a huge umbrella word and feel if people label Lottie as disabled then that's how they'll see her - disabled / handicapped - unable to do things - which she isn't / won't be. Alright she can't walk yet but she will. She'll do everything she puts her mind to she'll just take a bit longer. If someone said to me that their child was disabled I would ask what do you mean by disabled, what does that mean? Why can't people just call it what it is - and leave the word disabled to describe toilets!!?!!

Thanks for that, Blu. It is something I have worried about. Mind you, this was the same woman who told me off for not having done enough work with Travellers, and children with ESL.....there aren't any in the school I work at!

Tomcat - why is the toilet disabled? - only becaude it's been built so badly that it's no use to man nor beast

TC- I suspect your experiences will always be the opposite to mine. People will see Lottie and assume she can't do things, whereas people see DS1 and assume he can.

I don't really have a problem with the word disabled (although I have a problem with the sterotypes it then induces). I think of it as a strong word- mainly because I think that disabled people themselves are beginning to "claim" the word iykwim and are beginning to be heard.

I'm supposed to be OFF MN this week, concentrating on work...and now look what's happened! Bloody awful thread - far too interesting!
Bye-eee!

SenoraPostrophy - I'm not in favour of hugely punative claims (for whatever form of discrimination) and agree they can be counterproductive

• thus far I belive that most claims under the DDA have been settled for either a small sum (up to a few £k) or an apology and the promise that they'll review how they do things for the future (Centreparcs have agreed to audit their properties & proceedures and review their booking literature). But I do think that the threat of such costs concentrates the mind of the business community (and they can't simply decide to stop serving disabled people) but should also be balanced with the carrot of the cash they're missing out on!

As a parent of a SN child, I think the world is a hard enough place to live in without discrimation towards people with disabilities.
I look at my ds and I see 2 things

one that his life has more meaning to me than I could of ever envisaged, he has shown me the true meaning of love and compassion and bravery

two that the world is a hard and cruel place where discrimination is rife.

Ok a blind person couldnt be a pilot for obvious reasons but they would display another skill that would be advantegious for society.

Doormat, I agree with you 100%

I also posted 'What we need is a society that accepts all differences as valid, and accepts that we all have different strengths and weaknesses. '

Yes hmb and i agree with that point you made.
I also agree with jimjams with what she said about what a person looks like they are not seen to be "disabled" so are expected to do tasks.

All I know is that this is a very hard and emotive subject.

As for the yellow it would have to have a smiley face like this one

Janeaway I like your post

doormat what you wrote about your boy is so true. How does the DDA work when you are out and about doing your shopping, going for a meal etc. How do you stop people staring, tut-tut-ing, looking at your child as if she were an alien. It is something that really gets my goat and tbh I nearly hit someone this weekend because I overheard her talking about my dd. Ignorant b*tch she was but there seems to be many people like it and what protection do 'disabled' people have then?

Can anyone remember that programme with Gaby Roslin where she speny a day or so in a wheelchair? I think that would have opened alot of peoples eyes who had not thought about these things before - sorry if I am going off at a tangent

I think the main problem is ignorance, of which I hold my hands up for as well. Most people think disabled means something they can see, ie wheelchair, and forget it covers a miriad of other things. If you don't have friends or family with disabilities, where do you learn and educate yourself of what obstacles people have to deal with. I do actually read the special needs threads but most of the time am lost with the abbreviations and terms used - but do find them informative too.

yes - the abbreviations put me off too!

I've been having a long hard tink about this all afternoon. I have already posted that I think that we must do all tha wecan to make our society a more tolerant, fair an open society. This benefits all of us, not just those with special needs.

But, I don't think that I can fully agree with what you say when you post

'I'd like to first suggest an alternate view of disability....

....a person may have an impairment in the use of a limb. organ or sensory function, but this only becomes a disability when they encounter an obstacle in the environment (either physical or attidudinal) that will not accomodate them.'

My mother has Dementia. And with the best will in the world (an she is in a first rate specialist hospital) she is disabled by the strokes that have left her incapable of caring for herself, knowing where she is, or who is with her. However good society is, she is disabled. She isn't disabled because we don't accomodate her, she is disabled by an illness. I hope this doesn't insult anyone. I honestly believe that we must do our utmost to help everyone reach their full potential. I also believe that everyone has something to offer society, even my poor Mother. But sometimes it isn't society that causes disability. Sometimes it is just life.

hmb, I was about to say "what about mental disabilities?" Like so many people have said, it is easy to understand a visable disability (or one we could easily emulate, as Gaby Roslin did).

Mental disabilities have the additional problem that there are many people who look on and say "if only you just pulled ourself together"

I agree with the problem with terminology - to me disabled is not a great term, but "with a disability" can be more helpful and accurate.

PS I'm sorry, I have suddenly got one of those temporary spelling blanks!

hmb your last paragraph was my thoughts exactly and you put it so eloquently.
My ds would probably be never be able to work, he is too severly brain damaged at the moment. That may sound a bit harsh but it is a reality.
But I and all of us should always remember there is hope for everyone out there as medical breakthroughs are being discovered all the time.

I agree with all this. The reaosn I said earlier is that it has actually been easier to accomodate physical disabilities into the playschemes etc is becuase one change can then make the scheme accessible to many. Eg introduce a ramp.

The problem with disabilities such as autism is that each individual person needs a whole individual set of allowances and changes to be made for them- and society cannot be expected to accomodate that fully.

Some of our local SN playschemes are becoming very exclusive though. For example one here (run by SS) won't take children with autism because they're too difficult, won't take children who may need to have rectal diazepam administered because ???? no idea actually, but that rules out anyone with epilepsy, and won't take children who need to be tube fed. Not entirely sure who they do take actually.

It's a mix of both though isn't it? A sporty, coordinated blind person with really good coordination could probably play better tennis (with a ball that made a sound) than I (with abysmally crap hand to eye coodination) could. I actually do feel disabled sometimes when it comes to sport because I cannot do it, despite lessons etc. Blu's lovely son is actually (IMO) better at moving about than mine, tho Henry isn't disabled, just really not at all good at steps or running and jumping. My friend who lost both her legs in an accident will still probably ski no worse than me - though she has problems accessing places with steps - so her disability is environmentally caused. The line between ability/disability is IMO really blurred and I think a lot of the distinction could actually be removed with better access etc. The writer JOhn Mortimer says that being in a wheelchair is no significant disability for him in day to day life as he never moved much anyway and all his self esteem and pleasure came from the love of his family and his work which both remain the same.