trouble | BADD: How The Non-Disabled Person Can Particpate (from one non-disabled person to another)

Blogging Against Disablism Day, May 1st 2009

When I wake up, it'll be Blog Against Disabilism Day 2009. I have a few different posts planned for the day.

I spent a lot of time today thinking about ways that people who don't have a disability, or are not immediately affected by disability, could participate in this blogswarm. I know a lot of people are very supportive, but don't necessarily know how to actively support the effort. So I made a bit of a list.

First, and most difficult, is to write your own blog post about disability, disabilism/ablism, or accessibility. I know it can be a bit intimidating, even though BADD has a "Linguistic Amnesty" aspect (that is, no one is going to come to your post and demand you change your wording if you've said the "wrong" thing, although reading The Language of Disability might be helpful). I know for certain there are things I read a lot about don't post on because my shoes taste terrible. So, this may not be the way for you to participate this year. However, you may want to consider writing about your own reactions to disability, anything you've noticed about it, how disability plays out in your favourite pastime, or even blog about what "disability and accessibility" means to you. No pressure, though!

An easier way to participate is to make an effort to read posts written by people outside of your comfort zone. I know a lot of folks read along my posts here, but they do have a very specific focus - I write about mobility and accessibility, and occasionally rant about advertising or television shows. Disability has many aspects I haven't even considered, and I'll be reading along with the BADD round-up over the course of the next week or so. If you check out that page, you'll see a variety of topics and subtopics that have been written about in the past, and that will give you an idea of the sort of posts to expect this year, and maybe even notice something that is more relevant to you, such as "parenting issues" or "relationships, love, and sex".

If you read something, try and comment on it, even just to say "I read this, and I appreciate you writing it", or something of a similar nature. One thing that kept my spirit up during Blog Against Racism Week was having people who I knew had come over from the round-up post comment. Part of blogswarms are the sense of community, and the sense we're all in this together, and that people are listening and hearing our concerns. Commenting can be the thing that makes us feel like what we said mattered, even if only for a few moments.

Also, don't hesitate to recommend posts. I'll probably be doing several rec-posts this year, once I get really into the reading-grove. (I still rec The Gorilla In Your House from last year.) Getting posts out to your friends or readers who aren't necessarily familiar with BADD or disability/accessibility issues in general can help make a difference. People tell me all the time they never started thinking about X until I started linking and/or talking about it here, so I know that every link makes a difference, and starts a new conversation somewhere.

Overall, though, the most important thing you can do for BADD is respect it. Disability isn't something that a lot of folks want to touch. It's out of sight, out of mind, and a lot of things get dismissed as in someone's head, or not that important, or as a cry for pity. Reading what people have to say, and respecting what they've experienced as a result of ablism/disabilism and what they need in terms of accessibility and support for themselves and their family can be the beginning of serious change, for all of us.

Due to spam, this post is now screening anonymous comments.

From:

rainbow

I'm out of spoons tonight, but will try to read up on that tomorrow; it looks interesting!

The Oregon Country Fair uses "Alter-abled" rather than disabled, and I like that.

I get frustrated by folks who seem completely shocked that doing X, which is so simple and mindlessly easy for them to do, might be impossible for me, or possible to do if I don't mind hurting for a few days, or possible only with help.

But most of my friends understand and are wonderful.

trouble

Alter-abled. I've never heard that!

Someone I linked recently, I think "Brilliant Mind, Broken Body", compared it to getting things off the top shelf - for some reason it's okay for short people to ask for help getting things up high, but when a person with a disability does, it's omg drama. *sigh*

sqbr

I'm not a big fan of terms like "alter abled" or "differently abled", though I wouldn't try and stop other people self identifying that way. I mean it depends on the disability, but personally I do not see being stuck on the couch all day in pain as an "alternative" which has it's own benefits. I am not inherently less worthwhile than able bodied people, but my physical abilities are less than theirs.

I'm open to being convinced that it's a useful term, though. (And if you don't want to try to convince me I'll still assume you do have good reasons for it, I tend to assign a low priority to expending spoons on arguing with random strangers on the internet myself :))

I have to admit, "differently abled" always grates on my nerves, but I've never been able to articulate why. In my experience, I've mostly heard it used by people who don't know much about disability, or don't have close friends or family who they know have a disability.

not_a_sniglet

We want to thank you. We'd never heard of BADD till we read this post and we'll definitely participate.

We're a totally blind individual with screen reading software and there is a lot of stuff that is not accessible out there. Would you mind too horribly if we linked to this post? :)

BADD is a great idea. Horrible that we'd never heard of it before.

Have an awesome day and we'll be back to read and will read any posts you rec gladly.

Please do link to this post! Thank you for asking.

No problem. We always try to ask because after all it's your post. :) Credit will be given obviously as well. We just need to think of what we want to write on.

cesy

Thanks for posting this. I shall have a read.

Sorry, Cesy, I've been getting a lot of weird spam-comments on this post. I've deleted it.

lisabounce

Thanks for posting the link. There was a lot of interesting stuff on there last year.

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks for this... (from a non-disabled person who needed a reminder that it's good to be involved)... :)

rachelcreative.wordpress.com

Well written! Respect is something so easily forgotten by so many. Thanks for writing this post.

I know it must seem intimidating to the temporarily able bodied to talk about something as huge as disability and disabilism, but everybody's voices are needed. Thanks so much for being a part of BADD!