What does disability mean for me?

Hello, world!

This is my first reflection on my understanding of disability and a brief overview of what sparked my interest in the field. 

Around a year ago I listened to a podcast on Spotify. I believe it was a special episode by The Guardian on treatments for children with learning disabilities. All I remember is the final sentence of the interview with one of the children’s mothers. She said, “Instead of changing the people for the (current) world, we should change the world for the people.”

This simple but meaningful statement made me think about how people with different physical and mental capabilities experience the world in different ways. All my thoughts were accompanied by a strong feeling of injustice.

Since my bachelor’s degree where I learned the basics of human-centred design, I was taught to prioritise the user needs. I slowly but surely came to the personal conclusion that design is only good design if it improves people’s lives and so I started to work for a startup whose work was aligned with this value. It was during this time that I realised that inclusiveness is about picking people up from where they currently are, noting what they are currently able to do – and creating design that “builds on that”. It turns out that everyone needs to be “picked up” from different points as we are all different in our capabilities and characteristics. Working with home care agencies whose target group are the elderly, one that often has age-related disabilities and is often left behind when it comes to supporting technologies. A good example is people with memory problems who are unable to dose their medication correctly. While people with “normal” mental abilities of a younger age group might use smartphone apps to remind them of their medication, there is no such thing to remind elderly people with deteriorating memory and no smartphone available, of their medication. 

After I started to read more about disability and its implications, I realised I had not taken “silent” disabilities into account. Many people have invisible disabilities – they are just as challenging as visible ones though often overlooked because, well, they’re invisible to the outside. I also didn’t recognise seemingly “simple” disabilities as such: the glasses, for example, my parents have started using years ago to be able to read my 3-words Whatsapp messages. Would I have described them as disabled or impaired? Probably not. Does it affect their daily lives? Oh yes!

I personally think that society is a major reason why people with disabilities are “disabled”. As I explained earlier, it is a matter of picking everyone up from their own individual standpoint of abilities! Education about disabilities and environmental design are only 2 of the countless factors that show how society is supporting people with “normal” capabilities and leaves behind other “capability groups”. 

This is not to say that other groups of people who do not necessarily have disabilities are not also disadvantaged by everyday design: 

https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Women-Data-World-Designed/dp/1419729071)

I hope this gave you a little overview of my way of thinking about disability. I can’t wait to learn more about it and see how you think about it! Feel free to reach out if you agree or disagree with something and let me know why. 

Speak soon! 

Pauline 🙂