Today, Friday December 3, is International Day of
People with a Disability. My physical disability is obvious and has been since
birth. I was born with spina-bifida (myelomeningocele, the most severe
grading). I have used a wheelchair since 5 years old and will require the use
of one full-time for the rest of my life. With that much of my disability, I am
genuinely fine with it, especially at 35 years old now.
Now I don’t want to come across as a grumpy person
here, though if you ask my mother, I still have my share of grumpy moments. However, I am not very excited at this
year’s International Day of People With a Disability. I am holistically just
tired. Recently I had a very close scare with a very serious physical health
issue (I’m fine but only just!). That alone has left me exhausted and mentally
scared. I’m a higher risk for most things, including covid, which we are all
aware of now.
Not much has seemed to effect systemic changes for the
disability community at large or even for myself at an individual level. The
disability pension has not changed in 10+ years, yet a quick trip to the
nearest fuel station will tell you cost of living is going up quickly. As are the prices of food, rent and other basic necessities in life. While on this, we need to come together to co-design and modify workplaces to accommodate people with disabilities. We are 20% of the
population. We are more than just wheelchairs and walking frames. We are deaf,
blind, mute, mentally ill and sometimes we have invisible to the eye
disabilities. But if you look long enough, even they will be visible.
I am blessed that I do have enough health now to be
able to work part-time, especially with the aid of the internet allowing me to
do some work from home when my health isn’t quite right at the last minute,
which happens a lot. What we require is a potential employer to look at me like
one did in 2016 and ask what my health issues are and ask how they can help me
get the best out of me. I’m happy to say that person is still a friend.
We need to slow down and take a minute to simply ask
how you can help us get the best out of ourselves and life in general. My
generation needs to stop staring at our phones and look up and have a small
(I’m talking 3 minutes) conversation with disabled people. You do have time for this as it will save time for everyone in the long-term. We are very capable
of communication. Access and inclusion is not too bad here in Perth where I
live, but it can be better always.
If healthy/non-disabled people helped us with this, we
could fix this so much easier and then we may not even need dates like these to
showcase us, which to be honest I find a bit weird.
Giving up is not an option,
Perry
