There is a demand that’s easy for any person living with a (dis)ability to internalize, and that is the demand to overcome. There’s an expectation for people with (dis)abilities to dig deep and surmount all the odds. To overcome the greatest of adversities and, above all, be inspiring is hammered into our heads through a deeply ingrained and overly romanticized societal requirement.
There is an expectation to jump the curb with your wheelchair if there is no ramp, and be that overly positive and excruciatingly optimistic person that society portrays many people with (dis)abilities as, and although there is value in being resilient and manoeuvring creatively through life, the popping of a wheelie, or the cultivation of a smile, shouldn’t be the expectation.
When the need to overcome outweighs a need to push for social change, we as a society lose out, as energy spent focusing on what we define as acceptable success takes away from possible efforts to promote accessibility, as well as the rethinking of the way we approach (dis)ability.
Imagine the energy that could be refocused if we had an accessible society. Time spent learning how to navigate through a world that wasn’t built with all in mind could be far better spent.
But the need for access is not focused on; instead, a super-human standard is being placed on the world’s largest minority to be all that they can be, and get past that pesky (dis)ability.