Let's Start With Disability

More people than you think have a disability.

The name of this blog Disability is Everywhere, means different things to different people. Let's start with the word 'disability'. Some within the movement for disability rights have taken ownership of the word with a sense of proudness recreating it as a superpower. Others find the word offensive as a word that makes it sound like the issue is within us; a word that carries a story of sickness, wrongness, less than, deviant.

Those who support the social model of disability would in fact state that the impairment is the condition the person may be struggling with, but the disability is created by barriers preventing a person from participating in the life of their society, or by what I call "institutional ableism".

Nancy Willis Self Portrait 1

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I use the word 'disability' because it is the word most recognized at this moment. Although I recognize that many are now using the description 'differently abled' or 'lived experience'.

Now, on to 'Everywhere'

In every topic, every discipline, every construct, there exists a link to people with a disability. There is no industry which does not impact people with a disability. There are no social functions which don't affect people with a disability. We exist in all intersections and multidisciplinary approaches. Everything is relevant to a person with a disability because we are everywhere; in all walks of life and in all parts of life.

In Closing,

Disability is Everywhere seeks to find the link between any topic and disability.

Leave a comment below about what disability means to you, people want to know!

Read on to discover the intersections I've found thus far.