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Disability Rights Must Be Demanded

 As Disabled people, we are often shunned by society and gaslit in a number of ways that a statement of demanding rights might seem, well, a little demanding, but let me explain.

Throughout the course of the Disability Rights Movement, we have been attempting to demand equal rights, access, and accommodations to the things we need, but we have not made it far. We have had a few policy changes over the past few decades and a few accommodations in some areas, but there are still many public places that are not accessible for people who are not able-bodied. This does not even take into account the term "able-minded," which can just as easily translate to able-bodied, as the brain and neurology are directly linked to how the body behaves.

I have heard from many wheelchair users in my time on Twitter that many restaurants simply do not afford them enough room, if any, to move around. Many of them have been told that no accommodations could be made.

Many buildings are not accessible to wheelchair users, much less Autistic people, which would be more my area of expertise as a Multiply Neurodivergent person. Most public buildings are full of giant fluorescent lights that flicker, make noise, and hurt my eyes. Not only that, public places means that I might have to navigate a crowd of people, and my navigational skills are poor. It most definitely means I will likely get sensory overload if I do not carefully plan, as I do when I am getting acclimated to university classes, and in a worst case scenario, I will have a meltdown in public.

So, while it may seem absurd to ask others to join with me in demanding rights for Disabled people after the short description I just gave, if we work together and with each other's disability, it might become easier to demand our rights as equal citizens deserving of a future with accommodations.

I would like to thank past movements that have made it easier for the Disability Rights Movement to evolve, such as the Gay Rights Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and the intersectional Feminist Movement. 

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