Accessibility is important for disabled people because we can’t function without it, but non-disabled people often think that it’s an inconvenience and is something we can do if we want to. Everyone should care about accessibility, and it hurts disabled people when you say that accessibility is not important to you because it tells me that you don’t care if my life is harder than it has to be. Non-disabled people often do not understand accessibility to the extent a disabled person does and often think that there aren’t a lot of disabled people which there are more than you think, and that accessibility only benefits disabled people. Everyone should care about accessibility, and you shouldn’t wait until disability affects you to care about it because an accessible world will make everyone’s life easier. Why should you care about accessibility if you aren’t disabled? In this post, I am going to talk about why both non-disabled and disabled people should care about accessibility.
Anyone can become disabled- Non-disabled people often think that they don’t have to care about accessibility because disability does not personally affect them. Some people will never become disabled, but disability does not discriminate, and anyone can become disabled at any given point because a vast majority of disabilities are not birth defects and were acquired through accident, age, or illness. People should care about accessibility because anyone can become disabled, and you would want your life as easy as possible if it were to happen to you, but it won’t be if we don’t prioritize accessibility. Disability can happen to anyone which is why everyone should care about it because it will hit you when you least expect it.
Accessibility benefits everyone- Non-disabled people often get accessibility wrong and think that it only benefits disabled people, but an accessible world benefits everyone. Automatic doors are often necessary for disabled people because a lot of the time doors are too heavy for us to open but they can also benefit non-disabled people. An automatic door can help a mom with young who has a child on their hip open a door without having to put them down. Accessibility benefits everyone and is not only for disabled people but when something is accessible it can also make the lives of a non-disabled person a little easier. Inaccessibility makes some tasks impossible for disabled people, but inaccessibility can also make tasks more difficult for non-disabled people.
You should care about including disabled people– When something is not accessible sometimes a disabled person can figure out a way to participate in that task but a lot of the time I can’t participate if it’s not accessible and have to sit out. If you care about including disabled people, accessibility should be very important to you because I am not included when it’s accessible and often am left out and isolated. One of the hardest realities of being disabled is accepting the fact that I am not going to be included sometimes because of the lack of accessibility. You should care about including disabled people because we are people too and it makes me very sad when I can’t participate in something with my non-disabled friends that I should be able to. Accessibility matters because when you don’t care it tells me that you don’t care about including disabled people.
I can’t be independent– Disabled people often are expected to be as independent as possible and do as much for themselves as we can but what a lot of people don’t tell you is that we can’t reach our full potential if it’s not accessible to us. When something is not accessible to me, I rely more on others because although I am able to navigate a little easier than a full-time wheelchair user, I still have a physical disability with limitations that I can’t change. Inaccessibility takes away some of my independence because I can’t do tasks independently if there are too many barriers and am not able to be as independent as I know I can be which is one of the worst feelings ever. I like to have independence like most disabled people do because learning how to do a difficult task gives me great pride and when that is taken away from me, I don’t have confidence in myself. Non-disabled people often think that disabled people want to ask for help all the time, but the reality most disabled people like to have some level of independence because we rely on others so much.
Inaccessibility increases fall risk- Sometimes I will fall because I wasn’t paying attention and tripped but most times I fall because I was in an inaccessible environment and didn’t have enough space to do something. Disabled people fall a little more than non-disabled people, but everyone falls and when something is not accessible it increases the risk of someone having a fall. Accessibility doesn’t completely prevent every fall because people will always have clumsy moments but when you are in an accessible environment it does lower your risk of having a fall. I can’t change my physical disability and still will have falls occasionally, but I do fall less when I am in a familiar and accessible environment. Inaccessibility is dangerous for disabled people because not everyone knows how to fall like I do and can seriously injure themselves when it’s not accessible.
Non-disabled people often think that accessibility isn’t important because they are convinced that there aren’t a lot of disabled people, but accessibility isn’t only for disabled people. There are more non-disabled people than disabled people but there are still a lot of disabled and one in six people will have a significant disability. Disability doesn’t have to affect you to start caring about it because everyone should be calling out inaccessibility to help make the world more accessible. Accessibility would make everyone’s life easier because you never realize how much easier tasks can be when it’s accessible. Non-disabled people sometimes think that there aren’t a lot of disabled people in the world and that we don’t need to prioritize accessibility for a few people but even if that were true, we should prioritize it for the people that are affected by it. Why do you think we should care about accessibility? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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