Power of Inclusion: Understanding, Accepting and Communicating with People with Disabilities

While reading the book Demystifying Disability by Emily Ladau, I came across this statement from Jenny Lay-Flurrie, a chief accessibility officer at Microsoft. She states, “Disability is a part of being human. It is a part of being me. I grew up with declining hearing and am now profoundly deaf. I’m proud to be a member of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and learn from my friends daily. It’s a label that assists but does not define me or anyone else. My name is Jenny, and I happen to be deaf.”

This statement sticks out to me. I agree with Jenny Lay-Flurrie’s perspective that disabilities are a part of who one is and that one must be proud of who they are. We all know that there are many people in this world who have disabilities. The only difference between them and people not affected by Disability is that we do not have an issue that makes accomplishing simple tasks more manageable. If one thinks about it, there is no other difference. We are all humans and have different aspects and qualities that make us unique from others. This is how I believe we need to think of disabilities, individual traits that make up who we are. A disability does not make one worse or less important than anyone else. Disabilities do not define us; what defines us is, deep down, who we are.

Then why do we address or refer people with disabilities using specific terms or phrases? Why do we define a person with a Disability? Why do we limit ourselves to seeing who they are? Why can’t we see simple things like how they overcome their Disability and appreciate them for it?

Can we do away with the concept of “normal individual” vs “disabled or special needs”?

In a world where there is so much advancement all around us, however, we continue to define a person based on their Disability. A couple of examples that come to mind are “this is a special needs class”; the kids in here are “special needs. “this class has autistic children; this child is struggling in reading because he has dyslexia; the child is hyper, maybe because he has ADHD.

Look at the data below from CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/disability-barriers.html

• People with disabilities are far less likely to be employed. In 2017, 35.5% of people with disabilities, ages 18 to 64 years, were employed, while 76.5% of people without disabilities were employed, about double that of people with disabilities.

• Adults aged 18 years and older with disabilities are less likely to have completed high school compared to their peers without disabilities (22.3% compared to 10.1%).

• People with disabilities are more likely to have an income of less than $15,000 compared to people without disabilities (22.3% compared to 7.3%).3

• Children with disabilities are almost four times more likely to experience violence than children without disabilities.

It is not suitable to address someone with a Disability – autistic person, dyslexic person, and various other terms used. They all are much more than their Disability.

Could we at least make a beginning by using more appropriate ways to refer to a person with a disability and how these terms should be altered so that one is not defined as disabled or incapable?

1. Instead of “autistic person,” say “person with autism.”

2. Instead of “hearing aid person,” say “person who wears hearing aids.”

3. Instead of “wheelchair person” or “handicapped,” use “wheelchair user” or “person who uses a wheelchair.”

4. Instead of “midget,” could we use “a little person”?

5. Instead of saying “crazy, disturbed, insane, lunatic, mad or psychotic,” could we use “person with a psychiatric disability”?

All of us, whether we have a disability or not, are equal. No one is worse or better than the other, so one should not be defined by their Disability. Instead, a person should be defined based on who they are, not their Disability.