That’s what they say right?

A friend sent me a picture, of some stairs to which ramps had been added to. Much like, but not exactly the same, as the one pictured to the right. A small leap for the win of some form of accessibility.

It got me thinking, much like the other day, about how society holds on to such little element of accessibility. And parades them like they are the best achievement that could ever be achieved.

As if one achievement has made the entire world accessible to us, to me. It’s just so ignorant of the reality of the situation. So telling of a world that does not want to become accessible, so much that it wants to appear that it wants to become accessible. If that makes sense, I think it makes sense, I hope it makes sense.

Will the accessibility of disabled people in the world, will my accessibility to the world, ever be more than just a show? Will I ever be given the right as I deserve it? Will my lack of contentment with this all, ever be allowed? Or will it constantly only be seen as me being ungrateful for the inclusion that has been given to me.

Asking for more seems to be too much for many, and to me, this proves they never wanted to give any at all.

Looking more closely at the picture to the right, as a disabled person, I can see how in fact this ramp is not as accessible as it may seem. It is certainly not accessible to me, at least. The ramp itself is too steep for me, for either going up or down it, to be honest going down the ramp seems terrifying. Personally I would have to do this either backwards or with my chair tilted, leaving me unable to see my wheels properly, as I move down it. As the ramp has no edges, and leads straight onto the steps. A small mistake in angel and position I could very easily become injured, as could anyone.

This, at least in my experience, is often the case with accessibility when it is designed with little or no input from disabled people. A tick-box exercise that would surely fail, at least some, in practice.

And if it cannot provide accessibility, maybe it is better off not being there at all. Stairs are better than a ramp that cannot provide safety. This ramp may for some give safe passage, but it may for others simply give the illusion of safe passage, which is surely dangerous.

All this is to say please remember that just because something looks accessible does not in fact mean that it is. Please, trust the person in need of the accessibility when they tell you whether or not the accessibility that is available to them is actually accessible to them. Not being able to access something can lead to a lot of guilt, and yes I am speaking from experience here. It is not the disabled persons fault, that the world is inaccessible, so please do not make them feel like it is.

We, as disabled people, deserve to navigate the world in a way that is the safest for us, without feeling guilty for what this may mean that we miss out.

One final note of this piece is that at least on appearance the picture appears to be from another country. And the Accessibility of disabled people to travel internationally is food for thought at least.