15 votes

Despite recent advances, disabled people cannot yet participate in society ‘on an equal basis’ with others – and the pandemic has led to many protections being cruelly eroded

3 comments

  1. [2]
    eladnarra
    Link
    The concept of invisible labor really resonates. People in chronic illness communities often say that having a chronic illness is like a part-time or a full-time job. Interacting with the medical...

    The concept of invisible labor really resonates. People in chronic illness communities often say that having a chronic illness is like a part-time or a full-time job. Interacting with the medical system can take hours out of your day: coordinating your own care, talking to insurance, dealing with prior authorizations and denials, scheduling appointments, following up on tests, dealing with side effects from medications, correcting medical records...

    And now the pandemic has added to that workload. For example, I have to find a new dentist because the one I've been going to since I was a kid doesn't require masks anymore, and they had nothing to say when I asked about ventilation. If I wasn't sick, maybe I'd risk it; but since I'm relatively high risk I don't fancy spending an hour without a mask in a room that isn't properly ventilated. So now I have to spend a bunch of extra time evaluating other dentist practices, calling them to confirm they still are doing the covid precautions they have listed on their website, get all my records moved over...

    12 votes
    1. eladnarra
      Link Parent
      Airplane travel is another area that hasn't really improved much over the years, so disabled people end up having to do a lot of invisible work. Despite calls to improve, air travel is still a...

      Airplane travel is another area that hasn't really improved much over the years, so disabled people end up having to do a lot of invisible work.

      Despite calls to improve, air travel is still a nightmare for many with disabilities

      Airlines still lose, damage or destroy 26 wheelchairs a day--same as when they were first required to start reporting. Breaking a chair is like breaking someone's legs. And for Engracia Figueroa, there were deadly consequences.

      When wheelchairs break, airlines try to avoid replacing them. So very often people have to wait ages for repairs that end up being inadequate; and in this particular case, they did replace the wheelchair eventually, but it was too late to undo the damage of inadequate loaners.

      7 votes
  2. mtset
    Link
    I just want to chime in that despite living in the (greater metro area of the) building-code-obsessed and quite progressive city of Chicago, having a good friend of mine who uses a wheelchair move...

    I just want to chime in that despite living in the (greater metro area of the) building-code-obsessed and quite progressive city of Chicago, having a good friend of mine who uses a wheelchair move into the area has really opened my eyes to just how bad the state of accessibility is at the moment.

    As just one example, I live close to the middle of a major commuter rail line, and yet my station, and those on either side of me, have no elevator or wheelchair ramp. In order for my friend to visit me, they have to either take a car (which is pretty expensive for them) or only come on the kind of fortunate day where they can make it down the stairs with just a cane - and even then I have to carry their chair down for them, which is a gigantic pain in the butt.

    The city is addressing this issue, but slowly, because they have to close only a few stations at a time and completely rebuild them before moving on, and they don't have funding to move quickly on the construction or do multiple areas at once. I don't expect my area to have wheelchair-accessible stations until 2025 at the earliest.

    Disability is the only marginalized group that anyone can join at any time, without warning, and yet we still live in a disability-hostile society.

    8 votes