Further, most people will have some sort of temporary or permanent disability at some point in their life. People break their legs, get older and become deaf, or blind, etc.
Interacting with people with disabilities gives us an opportunity to think about how we can make society a little better not just for them, but for ourselves in the case that we become sick, or injured, or just live to be elderly enough that parts of our bodies have fulfilled their expected useful life and stop working.
Those who acquire a disability early have lived with it awhile and adapted to their environment. So I don't even think about it, knowing that, if they need help they will almost certainly ask.
Those who are disabled by accidents have a harder time IMO b/c it takes time to learn how to adapt and they will always remember what life was like before the accident. That memory is hard to let go of: part of you is gone forever. I'm more attentive to these people, knowing that often the learning and adaptation is occurring right in front of me.
Then there are those, mostly elderly, who don't yet realize that they are becoming disabled/weak. I see them in stores, for example, struggling to reach or lift (e.g.,cases of bottled water, an item on a shelf 8 feet up). I always offer to help, and always leave them with the reminder that "Tall people are here to reach the top shelf, so don't hesitate to ask!"
Sometimes I think of a life with normal height and strength, a life where I wasn't the only one who could see the grunge growing atop the refrigerator or who could help move a piano up the stairs. But we're all different, we all can do different things and, thanks to our differences, there's always someone (or some ones) for the task.
To add to this, a perspective I've heard working in the disability sphere is 'everybody is disabled eventually' - be that through injury, illness, or even just old age.
This really challenges the view that thinking about disabled users is catering to the needs of a small group of the population. Whereas in fact it is bringing benefits to the majority of the population (at some point in their lives).
Very cool. The opportunity for people with physical impairments to continue communicating - and convey their ability to still experience the world - gives us the ability to help these people lead happier lives.
People tend to have fewer friends and become less able as they get older, and even incidental interaction is still vastly better than none. If we had a way to make sure disabled people always have company and no one is left behind, I might agree to the idea of taking them off the busses and giving the (semi)private rides. But we shouldn't assume they all have friends to go see just because you always had such friends.
And then, spatial mobility is also very important. For example, I felt absolutely trapped by my relatively benign broken foot problem.
And spina bifida, and cerebral palsy, and strokes, and diabetes, and broken bones, and arthritis, and being pregnant, and just getting old, and literally hundreds of other disorders that cause temporary or permanent impairment.
By the time you're finished fixing the reasons people encounter mobility issues, we'll be darn near immortal - and you still won't have magicked away the reasons that able-bodied people benefit from universal design.
While some have to deal with disabilites since early on, many forget that anyone can get disabilities at any point during their life, and is nice of having options to still be able to continue working on what they love, instead of living from healthcare paychecks.
Yeah, it's not all about permanent disabilities, it's also about temporary and situational ones (like say, having your hands full due to work, or being in an area which isn't well lit and needing better contrast).
Interacting with people with disabilities gives us an opportunity to think about how we can make society a little better not just for them, but for ourselves in the case that we become sick, or injured, or just live to be elderly enough that parts of our bodies have fulfilled their expected useful life and stop working.
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