Barriers Be Gone

Recently, I was pleased to accept an invitation to speak at a public event designed to offer a platform for sharing personal stories of challenges and triumph. My plus one was to be a dear friend who has extensive experience with public speaking, but unfortunately I had to un-invite her at the last minute after learning the event location was not physically accessible.

As someone committed to doing my part to promote inclusivity, I felt wretched. But my friend is long used to being denied access, being un-invited or not included, being virtually invisible in a world that still accepts inaccessible places and events as the norm – restaurants, office buildings, washrooms, festivals or parties. Instead of joining me in my disappointment, she responded with compassion, expressing concern for me that I would not have a support person present when I spoke.

I choose to believe there was no conscious intention to exclude persons with physical disabilities by the designers of the physical space used for this event or by the organizers. In fact, I expect they would be part of the 90 per cent of Canadians that believe accessibility is a human rights issue.

Sadly, despite such widespread support for the idea of accessibility, 73 per cent of us recognize there’s ongoing prejudice against persons with disabilities in our society.

It seems many of us need to be personally touched by disability before we’re willing to become advocates for change. A bit shortsighted at the very least – after all, if we’re fortunate enough to reach a “ripe old age,” we’ll likely be living with some sort of age-related or acquired disability.

I was introduced to difference when my son contracted spinal meningitis as a baby and became profoundly deaf.  A whole other world opened up to me as I wrestled with the grief and loss of not having a hearing child and of seeing deafness as a deficit. But many of my preconceived notions fell away when I learned about deaf culture and how to communicate in American Sign Language. Then, deaf people began sharing their rich culture and history with me.

Read the rest of this blog at the Kingston Whig Standard….https://www.thewhig.com/opinion/columnists/barriers-be-gone