Adults with disabilities make up approximately 14 per cent of the Canadian population. Most people rarely discuss people with disabilities and the struggles they face in their day-to-day lives.
Accessibility is perhaps the most prevalent issue facing people with disabilities. Whether it is affordable accessible housing, accessible transportation or access to buildings, people with disabilities are limited in where and how they travel.
For university students living with disabilities, to access school buildings it can take the individual up to three times longer to reach their destination, as the accessible routes are not easy to find nor logically planned out.
I recently had the privilege of speaking with some women living with disabilities and perhaps the most shocking issue facing them is funding.
When a person with a disability marries an able-bodied person, their funding, on which they depend, is cut dramatically. This leaves the person living with a disability almost completely financially dependent on their partner. Because people with disabilities are already vulnerable, making them financially dependent as well creates an atmosphere where abuse is more likely than in an able-bodied couple.
There are countless other issues facing this community, and yet as a society we rarely, if ever, discuss them. No matter your ethnicity, race, sexuality, religion, or other communities in which you belong, there will always be people living with disabilities in your community. Creating dialogue around these issues is vital for this reason. By advocating for people with disabilities in your community, you are strengthening your community as a whole.
In the very short time I have been introduced to the issues facing the disability community, I was most struck by the importance of language.
Rather than addressing people with disabilities as simply “disabled,” or a “disabled person,” it is vital to address them as people first, and their disability second.
People with disabilities’ basic human rights are being violated on a daily basis in our community and around the world. By living in ignorance, we are preventing people with disabilities from being included in society. For every building that is built without accessibility, it puts our community back another 50 years.
When these human rights are violated, we are sending the message to their community that their voices do not matter, or that their worth is somehow lesser. By simply addressing people with disabilities as people, it creates an empowering space that has been extremely lacking.
I encourage you, whether you are an able-bodied person or a person living with a disability, to research the rights of those living with disability and to advocate for them whenever possible. Ensure meetings are in buildings with appropriate parking, and accessible ramps and entryways. Engage with people living with disabilities. When human rights are addressed for one community, it opens the door for change in countless other ways.
Jennifer Hamilton is a local student and writer.
