Eradicating the stigma of disability: look back only to inform the future

Posted in Sandi's blog on 1 June 2010 | 0 Comments

In my infinite hippiedom, when I find life doesn’t make sense to me or when I feel the need for some spiritual realignment, I can be found on the floor either with my legs akimbo in a yoga pose or bopping away with my headphones on, listening to music made by other hippy types like me.

Let’s face it, the world as it stands pains my soul and I have been asked many times why on earth I do it. With the grand goal of wanting the world to be a place where people celebrate each other’s differences and the word disability does not exist, am I not simply setting myself up for failure in aiming for something that it is evident I am never going to be able to achieve in my lifetime? Well, in a word “No” and I will tell you why, because although my aim is grand, I am also a realist and know that this is not really a goal, but an ideal that I will not be the first to work towards nor the last.
In a random twist of fate, more commonly referred to as life, I was talking to my mom about such things, seeing as she has spent her entire life fighting for human rights and working towards the same ideal, and she told me that people said exactly the same thing to her throughout her career. She was one of the first academics to conceptualise human rights in countries of diversity.

I remember when, what for me is now her seminal book, Label Me Human was published in 1989 thinking that she was living on cloud cuckoo land if she thought this was ever going to happen and didn’t really understand at that time why she would enjoy banging her head against the wall in this way.

And now some 20 years on, I can look back at her incredible body of work and be grateful that she was able to so articulately outline the processes through which stigmatised minorities are socially constructed and the social, psychological and institutional means through which we can eradicate the stigma, because since this time, although her ideal has not been fully realised, significant inroads have been made towards it and that fills me with hope, excitement and a feeling of great pride to be able to take the mantle into my life and move her work forward, albeit in my very different way.

And then a few days later, when I spoke at the Future of Web Design conference, I met Bruce Lawson and Patrick H Lauke. They have both worked tirelessly against adversity for many years to get accessibility on the agenda and into the mainstream. Although we did have a serious discussion about such matters, I think that, in order for us to all remain sane on a journey that is certainly rewarding but can at times be frustrating and unsatisfactory, we had a bit of comic relief and agreed that it was a great thing to have a goal you never have a chance of achieving because that way you can never fail!

And then, a few days after that, I had some disappointments on this journey and needed to reflect, so sat down, headphones on, listening to Crosby, Stills and Nash and heard the words “Don’t let the past remind us of what we are not now” and realised how far the human race had come and the disappointment I felt became a mere blot on the landscape and faded into insignificance. I felt invigorated again and ready for another go, looking back only to inform the future.

0 comments | Tags: Accessibility, Human Rights