Skip to main content

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. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

 My name is Lily Maureen O'Nan, and I am currently going to university for my associate of science degree in social science, and then will be moving onto a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology with a minor in gender studies. I am non-binary transfeminine and autistic and ADHD, and will be using this platform to publish essays as I go through academia until I have a better grasp on coding.  I will be discussing a wide array of topics from disability studies to traditional psychology to psychedelic therapy to Marxism and more. I will also be discussing gender and "neuroqueer" experience, and possibly publishing poetry and art-themed pieces as well. Be on the lookout for updates. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Mirror-touch Synesthesia & the "Empath"

 I personally do not like or adhere to the term "empath," but I believe I have figured out the explanation for this phenomenon, which I do experience. It's specifically called mirror-touch synesthesia, and is also related to mirror-pain synesthesia and mirror-emotion synesthesia, which I spoke of at an earlier time. Studies show that mirror-touch synesthetes experience heightened levels of empathy because, in addition to feeling at least an echo of another person's pain, many of us also feel their emotions as if they were our own. This sounds an awful lot like the horrific pop psychology term, "empath," but most people attribute it to a supernatural phenomenon if they're not lying about it, rather than a Neurodivergence. It's a lesser known type of synesthesia, but I experience mirror-touch, as well as more "traditional" types of synesthesia where many of my senses blend together. I was actually misdiagnosed with schizoaffective because I d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Intersectionality in Neurodiversity Studies

 I have started reading the book, The Secret Life of a Black Aspie by Anand Prahlad, in addition to, Feminist, Queer, Crip by Alison Kafer, and it is making me more aware of all of the various intersections that must be explored in Neurodiversity and Disability Studies. My own intersections deal with being a Multiply Neurodivergent, Non-binary, Queer, gender nonconforming, Demi/Omnisexual, multi-religious, Disabled person, but I know that there are many other intersections to explore rather than merely gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, able-bodiedness/able-mindedness, and religious affiliation, such as race, ethnicity, body type, and different forms of (dis)ability, among many other identifiers of who we are as people. I would like to remain as inclusive as possible moving forward, although my main point of reference will be Queer Neurodivergence, as that is what I am familiar with. I acknowledge my white and thin privilege in all of this, despite struggling w...
Post a Comment
Read more