Hi, I’m Maria. I’m a Disability Equality trainer and access consultant based in London. I’m passionate about disability rights and have worked my whole career, in the UK, Italy and US, to promote greater inclusion for disabled people. No, I’m not some crusader, just someone who has had to deal with so much ignorance and obstruction because of my own disability that I have plenty to say on the matter.
I also would like to see more bridges between ‘mainstream’ thinking around disability and the thinking of disability rights campaigners. I would like to see disability as less of a fearful and awkward subject to talk about and help others see it as part of the human condition. I very much welcome your comments on my blog, I hope it will be an opportunity for some constructive discussions.
Posts by Maria
Liz Carr has written an open letter to Noel Martin, who in 1996 was attacked by Neo-Nazis and as a result was left paralysed from the neck down. He is planning a trip to Switzerland to commit legal suicide and Liz Carr has written to him to ask him to reconsider.
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Recently someone asked me how to address a question that came from one of their employees: ‘Why are we learning about disability? Surely we should address other diversity issues, such as racial and cultural discrimination first?’
This led me to ask myself why disability equality training is often seen as a ‘low priority’ topic.
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Our western culture tends to promote a medicalised view whereby disabled people are considered to be damaged, sick or even freaks of nature. Disability is feared as something that is as abnormal and not a part of who we really are as human beings.
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Events like No Limits are needed: they’re not an easy feat and often meeting the access needs of disabled participants and attendees can be hugely challenging – simply for the sheer size of the provision required.
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Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire demonstrated how easily unhealthy attitudes towards disability can be shed. What could have been another sensationalist ‘reality’ TV treatment of disability actually turned out to be an honest and well-handled portrayal of someone challenging his own perception of disabled people; experiencing his own ‘eureka moment.’
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The medical model focuses on impairment and loss of functionality: it encourages the idea that disability is only a condition affecting the individual. From this, the disadvantages faced by disabled people are the result of their own, personal condition rather than any failings in society or barriers in the built environment.
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The religious model, is a theory that shows how often people’s religious beliefs are projected onto disabled people.
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Last month, Harriet McBryde Johnson, the celebrated American disabled rights activist and lawyer died suddenly at the age of 50. I met her when I lived in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2003 whilst at the apex of her fame after the New York Times published her 10,000 words article making her case against Eugenics. Her death was a bit of a shock to me, especially as I recall my own life at the time and the circumstances around our meeting.
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If you haven’t stumbled upon this video by Charles Winbourne please check it out. It’s not only extremely funny; it perfectly portays the battles many of engage in, particularly when growing up, attempting to get those closest to us to accept our disability.
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This issue of being ‘labelled’ disabled is a very important one, as many people with impairments do not wish to identify themselves as such.
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