Disabled people make up the largest minority in the UK – over a fifth of us, but we remain hidden from public perception. Those of us who are seen are too often expected to have visible signifiers – a walking cane, special glasses, a wheelchair – and yet 70-80% of disabilities are invisible. It is time to trust us when we say we are Disabled. It is time to believe us, listen to our needs, and rise up as a society to meet those needs.
Very few of us are leaving this world without becoming Disabled. If injury or illness doesn’t make us Disabled, old age is highly likely to do so. Nearly every one of the 79% of non-disabled people is pre-disabled. To look disability in the eye is to look ourselves, and our future selves, in the eye. This is the time to look – to see, to listen, and to recognise and honour Disabled people as fully included members of society.
These mark-the-day days can feel like tokenism. But this day, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3rd December, needs to be treated as a spotlight, shining not just on us, but on a society that in many ways disables us.
Disabled people have remarkable resilience, ingenuity, worth, and value. But we need the resources to make us thrive and shine. We need to be seen, heard and valued. During today on social media we’ll be posting a few quotes to highlight better communication and understanding of disability and echo this theme. We particularly need to respond to the call today of ‘Nothing about us, without us’ It quotes the basic requirements of participation, representation and inclusion and calls for persons with disabilities to actively shape the conditions of their lives.
