After watching the video about disability in class last Thursday, I really began to realize what an important issue disability is in our society. I guess I failed to notice this issue before since it did not personally effect me. I never noticed the lack of disability-friendly pathways or means of accessibility across campus. Thus, I felt guilty for never taking a stand against this issue. Yet, since I have seen the movie, I have been more apparent to these particular things.
I liked how the movie did not make the main character disabled, but made him the outcast by making everyone around him disabled and setting that as the norm. It really personified the feelings and troubles many disabled people encounter on a daily basis. Abled people, like myself, have the luxury of walking and being independent, while having the opportunity to take buses and taxis without difficulty. I don't think disabled people should be restricted and restrained from the same privileges as abled people. I believe each building should accommodate in any means necessary. Thus, businesses that focus on financial burdens and other costly factors should be punished for not establishing accessibility for disabled people.
These type of accommodations should be mandatory and not an option. I believe it takes government action and self morals to establish these requirements, because I believe all people are equal, regardless of their physical restraints.
3 comments:
An ideal society would have all accommodations necessary for every type of person; I think such a society is a far fetched idea. To play devil's advocate, you want all buildings to "accommodate in any means necessary"; first off, not all businesses can even afford to make the changes necessary for accommodation to all people, therefore punishing these businesses is even more damaging than productive because either way, punishing a business means that business will lose money in some way. Then, when people think of building accommodation, they typically only think of anyone who has difficulty walking. What about the blind? Should there be sounds to alert them when doors open or when the elevator is available, etc? If that was done, there would be too many sounds to decipher, and we already talked about how braille is in locations people wouldn't know to look for it. So should every school, business, hospital, etc, have seeing eye dogs? That's a large investment as well, animal care, food, vet visits, it all adds up. On top of that, should everyone learn sign language?
I just think its easy to point a finger and say, as many of us have, "Doctors should do this and shouldn't do that", "businesses should do all these things", and these are all based on ideals that will take a long time to be realized, and when they are, implementation will still be difficult. A lot of buildings worldwide are old, and remodeling them takes time and more money than building a new building with "handicap accessibility"; you can neither just stick an elevator in a 50-year old building, nor can you just build a new building, its not that easy. All buildings accommodating "in any means necessary" is not only vague, but if it suggests what it should (encompassing all people), then it is not economically feasible, practically impossible, and indeed a waste of money. It's a lot harder than saying "it should be done".
I strongly agree with your point of view about disability. Watching the movie, I was completely shocked to find out that there are so many people with disabilities in our society. Nowadays it does not notice disabeled people or even worse, the society does not want to notice them. I find this rather disturbing.The video shows how people with disabilities are treated as not equal. With presenting the main character, the video tried to show the audience how he feels like an outcast in "their world"and analogically it shows how diabled people feel around adled people. In my opinion, we have to treat these incapable people as equal human beings. The second main factor which is responsible for how they feel is the government. It does not suport them with the necessary installments which they need for their comfortable movement. For example, there are not enough rails, elevators which are designed for disabled people, and etc. If we want to make them feel conveniently we have to give them the opportunity to live their own lives as we all do and treat them with respect.
To Jackie's comment:
I agree that at this point in time a society that accomodates every types of person is far fetched, but think of all the things that are in place today that were once thought of as far fetched. Just think that not even fifty years ago, black people were not allowed to use the same faciilities as whites or attend the same schools as whites. However, in 2008 and in our Women Studies course there are Asian, Black, White, and Multiracial people who sit in the same classroom and share ideas. I don't believe that anything is too out of our reach. It just takes action and initiative to get things done. The disable deserve the right to be treated the same as those who are able bodied. They also deserve the right to not think that their complete acceptance into society is far fetched.
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