Did you know that July is disability pride month? As an NDIS provider on the Gold Coast, we are always happy to be involved in anything that helps inform people about the challenges faced by the disabled community. This it’s also the 33rd year since the Americans with Disabilities Act was first released. This is a vital piece of civil rights law in the states that help protect all the rights of disabled individuals.
What Does it Mean?
We know that pride events can just feel a bit like every minority group jumping on the bandwagon, and of course, all organisations are keen to try and establish that this is not just the case. They are generally about raising awareness for people living lives that are different to your own. Although called disability pride, one of the biggest issues about being disabled is actually survival. Disability survival month probably doesn’t have the same positive connotations, but living life with a disability can be incredibly challenging, especially when others can’t see your point of view. So, what do disabled people want others to know?
Disability Can be Painfully Lonely
Physical isolation is a huge problem for people living with a disability. This also means it’s very much unnoticed by others. We don’t notice people who aren’t there unless we are friends and missing them. Loneliness comes in many different forms, the issues caused by the disability itself, the fact that places are inaccessible and disabled people cannot move easily around their own communities. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and sometimes the effort involved in trying to plan to just go out with friends for a drink means that they don’t bother, but this leaves them isolated and lonely.
Disability is Embarrassing
Having to say the disability is embarrassing is, by its very nature, embarrassing. But a lot of disabled people feel incredibly embarrassed, but people have to change things for them. Accommodating them can be seen as an imposition, and therefore it’s embarrassing. Able-bodied people often display negative body language when assisting someone with a disability from tutting because they have to move their chair or the opposite of being too helpful and treating a disabled person like a child. All of this can be very embarrassing and, therefore, another reason why disabled people often choose not to interact in society.
Disability Shouldn’t Need Explaining
Finally, disability should never be challenged. It is not your place to ask why someone needs adaptions, why they’re in a wheelchair, or why they’re walking with a white cane, although that’s potentially quite obvious. You have no right to their story; they do not have to justify why they have a disability or how they are disabled. It’s hard enough to navigate the medical community as a disabled person, and very often people feel like they are treated as though they are lying or bending the truth to try and gain advantage. But actually, there are very few advantages on offer to those who are disabled.