turtle on wheels

oskar the blind kitten

Check out this awesome video! It's a blind kitten named Oskar playing with his first toys.

the space between ability and disability

photo: Addison Berry

A couple weeks ago, my college had a fire drill at lunch time. I was eating lunch in the cafeteria, which is in the basement. There is an accessible way out...on the opposite side of the building. So I left my lunch, got up, and headed for the stairs.

I don't use stairs very often. And when I do, they are only a couple steps long, like to get to my front door or into the hot tub at the pool. In these cases, I usually try to take my time so I don't lose my balance.

That lunchtime, I practically ran up an entire flight of stairs, then down another few right outside the doors. I didn't have a jacket and it was chilly out, so I walked around the building to the other side of campus where the car was parked. I got there just in time for us to be let back in through the front doors.

Some people might look at this and say that I don't need to use elevators or my wheelchair- after all, I was fine going up the stairs and walking a decent distance during the fire drill. But that wouldn't be true. There are lots of things that I CAN do, that I just usually don't. It's not because I'm lazy or want people to do things for me all the time. It just takes a lot of energy for me to do things that other people don't even realize they do. I am just prioritizing what is worth the extra energy to do and what isn't.

Gary McPherson wrote about this in the book Breaking Bread, Nourishing Connections.

“Soon after getting polio, it seemed important to regain as much physical independence as possible. This was a time of intensive physiotherapy and experimentation. My quest to be as independent as I could be yielded some hard-earned lessons. For example, I was fitted with an elaborate sling that was attached to my wheelchair. The sling supported my left arm and hand so that I could physically feed myself from a tray top that was attached to my chair. I soon realized that the required energy to feed myself combined with my breathing difficulties created more problems than solutions. I made a decision to use my limited energy in a much more focused way. I had grown beyond the need to prove my physical independence and manhood through the act of feeding myself to the point of exhaustion."

 So the next time that you see someone in a wheelchair, don't assume they aren't capable of walking. If someone is communicating non-verbally, don't assume they aren't capable of talking. If someone is being fed lunch instead of eating on their own, don't assume they aren't capable of feeding themselves. Even if these things do happen to be true (and you can't know if they are), it doesn't mean anything about what kind of person they are or what they care about or what they have to contribute.

Check out this video- it's a funny look at some major accessibility fails. (I'd embed it but I don't think it's on youtube yet)

customer service

photo: sherlock77

Customer service is an important part of every business. When it comes to customers with disabilities, though, the same standards don't always seem to apply. This is likely due to people not knowing how to best serve customers with disabilities, as well as people underestimating the importance of treating customers like me well.

Accessibility and a welcoming atmosphere make a huge difference. They're good business -
 I know when I find a restaurant, for example, that is accessible and whose staff treat me well, I'm likely to return regularly (and I'm a good tipper!). Little things make a big difference, like greeting me when I come in, looking at and talking to me as well as whoever is with me, and bringing me my own menu.

Stop Ableism, an organization based in Ontario, has a quick accessibility test you can take to see how welcoming your business is to people with disabilities. The Ontario government also has some resources to help businesses become more accessible.

If you'd like to provide excellent customer service to everyone, including people with disabilities, but aren't sure how, there are some guidelines here. They're a pretty good summary; the only thing I would add would be tips for customers who may not speak. For more specific advice, York University has some really thorough tips on interacting with customers with  a wide variety of disabilities. You can also find some good information as well as individualized tip sheets for different disabilities here.

update on motala the elephant

photo: http://animom.tripod.com/motala.html

At the beginning of the summer, I posted about Motala the elephant who has a prosthetic leg. Since then, I've learned more about her story. She now has a real prosthesis instead of just a bag of wood shavings. This is a picture of her from this past February. You can see more pictures and read more about her story here.

photo: edomond

Hello all! I hope you've had a relaxing and enjoyable summer. Now that the days are getting shorter and classes have started up again, I'll be back to updating more regularly.

I've got a bunch of posts planned, including an accessibility guide to the University of Alberta, ableism in volunteering, and an inside look at inclusive education, so stay tuned! In the meantime, if you happen to be on the U of A campus, stop by APIRG in HUB Mall to pick up a copy of their just-released zine for new students, including an article by yours truly.

photo: oddee.com

Motala the elephant lives in Thailand and has been using this old-school prosthetic leg since 2005. It's just a bag filled with wood shavings.