Do you think you can tell
2024 12 29 | journal
I bet you can't tell me what's wrong with this shirt.
T-shirt reads: Vote as if your skin is not white, your parents need medical care, your friend is a missing Indigenous woman, your spouse is an immigrant, your land is on fire, your son is transgender, your house is flooded, your sister is a victim of gun violence, your brother is gay, your water is unsafe, your daughter is a sexual assault survivor
Looks good, right? Looks considerate, communally-minded, inclusive? It isn't.
Those sorts of things - that t-shirt - never mention the disabled, even though disability is part and parcel of so many of the things on it. That's a bigger picture that gets forgotten a lot. So, many of you might have just realised you didn't think of it either. That's the needs of about 20% (and growing) of the population (in Canada, at least) that are continuously not merely dismissed, but overlooked as valueless, as unimportant.
People are not wrong when they talk of community building as being vital - but until disability is addressed and included as a matter of course and not just an afterthought, cohesion will not, and cannot, occur. Disabled people, their advocates, and others have spoken about approaching world / community-building with the disabled always in mind, because it makes the world better for all, and for everyone's futures.
Sadly, so many people still seem to think that if they pretend disability doesn't exist, it won't happen to them. But disability is the least discriminatory situation you can ever experience. It doesn't care about gender, economic status, religion, skin colour, sexuality, nor anything else. If it wants you, it'll come for you.