#the future is accessible

[cy-cyborg]

What able bodied authors think I, an amputee and a wheelchair user, would want in a scifi setting:

Tech that can regenerate my old meat legs.

Robot legs that work just like meat legs and are functionally just meat legs but robot

Literally anything that would mean I don't have to use a wheelchair.

If I do need to use a wheelchair, make it fly or able to "walk me" upstairs

What I actually want:

Prosthetic covers that can change colour because I'm too indecisive to pick one colour/pattern for the next 5+ years.

A leg that I can turn off (seriously, my above knee prosthetic has no off switch... just... why?)

A leg that won't have to get refitted every time I gain or loose weight.

A wheelchair that I can teleport to me and legs I can teleport away when I'm too tired to keep walking. And vice versa.

In that same vein, legs I can teleport on instead of having to fiddle around with the sockets for half an hour.

Prosthetic feet that don't require me to wear shoes. F*ck shoes.

Actually accessible architecture, which means when I do want to use my wheelchair, it's not an issue.

Prosthetic legs with dragon-claw feet instead of boring human feet or just digigrade prosthetics that are just as functional as normal human-shaped ones.

A manual wheelchair with the option to lift my seat up like those scissor-lift things so I'm not eye-level with everyone's butt on public transport/so I can reach the top shelf by myself.

A prosthetic foot that lights up when it hits the ground like those children's shoes.

A few additions I remember seeing in the comments on my old account:

holographic prosthetic covers

transformers-style mobility aids that can fold into the shapes of different aids (e.g. a wheelchair that can fold into a cane)

prosthetic covers with pockets/hidden compartments (kind of surprised this isn't a thing already).

find my leg (like find my iphone, but for your legs when you haven't worn them in a while lol)

TLDR: Stop assuming every disabled person would want to be as close to "normal" as possible in your works. Some absolutely would and having options for them if fine, but I rarely see any examples of media showing those of us who don't. start letting amputees in your scifi works have fun with our prosthetics, fix the problems real amputees are already talking about instead of what you think are the issues and make your settings as a whole accessible!

[crazycatsiren]

Your business is in fact, not accessible, when there are stairs leading to your bathrooms, no matter how step free your front door is.

[queer-crip-grows]

If you are involved in climate activism and if you work in town planning and purchasing, or anything similar, I am begging you to please, *please* start thinking about disabled folk, elderly folk and parents with young kids when you are talking about walking and biking to places.

Cycles are absolutely inherently more pedestrian-friendly than cars, but they are still perfectly capable of injuring or even killing pedestrians, particularly frailer people, small people, and pets.

A lot of pedestrians, especially elderly and disabled people, have developed this instinctive terror of cycles and cyclists purely because poor planning so often shoves cycles into pedestrian spaces that aren’t actually even that ideal for pedestrians, and people who already have difficulties - elderly and disabled people, dog walkers, parents of small children - in those spaces start accumulating experiences of injury or even a succession of near-misses, which are perfectly capable of producing trauma even if physical injury is avoided.

And that only plays into the hands of polluters and governments who are in their pockets as well as increasing the marginalisation of already-marginalised people.

I can’t blame cyclists who are too afraid to ride cycles on the roads along with motor traffic. It’s terrifying and incredibly unsafe. Cycle paths, Cycle lanes, and other specific spaces for cyclists are absolutely essential, with as little need to share space with motor traffic *or* pedestrians as possible. Even in wide city boulevards, laid-out cycle paths and spaces are essential. They literally only need paint! And let electric scooters back on them in the UK too.

If you are providing any form of public rentable cycles, please, *please* accommodate elderly, frailer and disabled people too. We tend to be the ones who are in the most need of alternatives to get places, but traditional bikes are inaccessible to frailer people and most people with balance and fatigue issues. Please buy a selection of bikes, including adult-size tricycles, scooters with seats, and bikes with seats and tow options for small children. Parents exist, and are mostly desperately in need of transport as they have small humans with short legs and limited energy, and most prams and buggies are incompatible with traditional cycles.

We know so damn well how right-wing governments and corporations benefit from setting us against each other, and how adept they are at using marginalised people to distract the majority of exploited workers from the larger issues said governments are doing poorly or not tackling at all.

Disabled and elderly people, and parents of small children, are very vulnerable to climate change and the issues it causes. We are not the enemies of the climate movement; but we equally need to be *included* in it and *accommodated* by it.

If you are only looking for solutions that work for abled, healthy young adults, you are, frankly, not doing your job effectively. Listen to disabled people, older people, and parents. If you are doing large-scale planning work, invite us into the planning process *early*, not at the end when any changes will seem too burdensome and expensive to make, and, honestly, pay us for our time and expertise.

Oh, and if you make or sell bikes or electric bikes, sell more accessible options like adult trikes and ones with child seats and towing options too, please. And don’t charge enormously more for them than standard bikes. Financing options would be good too. Most disabled people can’t afford to run a car, and your bikes are often more expensive than that, if you offer them at all.

[blackbird-brewster]

Had a hearing assessment today because I had a nasty ear infection that began in like October and ruptured my eardrum and hasn't fully healed all this time later (even after multiple rounds of antibiotics)

The hearing test results were what I expected. I already knew I had hearing loss after my last test in 2020.

Today, however, the audiologist let me try out some hearing aids just to hear the difference they could make.

And I burst into tears. Because I heard Doom Them's voice, clear as day, for the first time in years. And they were sitting across the room while wearing a mask. The audiologist went to the hallway and asked me to a repeat a random number she said and I could hear her perfectly. She went further away, I could still hear perfectly! It was so emotional, because I honestly didn't realise how much I've been trying to compensate for my hearing loss.

The heartbreaking part was when I realised the audiologist was clearly used to 'young' people shutting down the idea they could benefit from hearing aids, because the first ones she showed me were tiny, discreet, ones even though she explained they're not necessarily great for long term use. And she was very hesitant in her wording when showing me the more visible behind the ear types, repeatedly saying 'I know they're more visible...'

I am obviously the type of person who doesn't care about that sort of thing. I use a walker or wheelchair for mobility, I got over hiding my disabilities long ago. I don't care if people can visibily tell I'm disabled, not when those visible aids are granting me independence and improving my quality of life!

After such an instantaneous and emotional response to testing the hearing aids and realising how much I could benefit from them, we already made an appointment to return so I can talk about my best options.

So, this is your reminder, whatever aids you need to improve your life, get them if you can! Whether it's a mobility aid, hearing aids, glasses, joint support braces, or anything else - - you deserve to have the best quality of life possible.

[thecreativemillennial]

Today is a sad day. Veteran disability rights activist Judy Heumann has recently passed away at the age of 75. We thank and salute you for all your work for the disabled community and may you rest in peace

[thefriedbird]

Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised how inaccessible certain things were 😂

It was my first time going in my own manual wheelchair and… it was a STRUGGLE.

I, of course, had heard of how “accessible ramps” can sometimes be hardly accessible at all. That was a nightmare a few times.

BUT GOT DAMN THEY BE PUTTING ACTUAL SPEED BUMP THINGS IN THIS PARK? (I think they were actually to hide exposed cables. But holy shit was it hard to get around. I had to step out of my wheelchair with my cane, have my wheelchair pushed over it and then me sit back down.)

A lot of the attendants were helpful, seeing as a lot of our accessibility guides NEVER came in the mail. So they were willing to let us through the accessible entrance gates. But there was one absolute ride that was INACCESSIBLE NIGHTMARE HELL. No sign stating where the accessible entrance gate was, no attendant at the front to tell you where it was. When you get through that line with your wheelchair, they had to hoist it up and try not to hit people in the head with it to get to the other side, (so not only do you feel like an inconvenience and a burden but an asshole to other people).

And lol don’t get me started on some of the stores and the piss poor attempt to be accessible or the other people you are having fun at this park with have zero disregard or awareness of being around those in a wheelchair.

I found many others like me though who had many similar problems. So I’m happy I wasn’t alone at this park 😭

[olskuvallanpoe]

Okay, I’m tired of society vilifying disabled bodies.

My best friend, the sweet and beautiful angel she is, posted a selfie on Instagram. She was smiling and wearing a crop top. One could see the little decorative tube-pads she had over her two tubes, the barest amount of tape over her chest port, and a healed surgical scar on her stomach.

Instagram flagged this photo for “sensitive,” “violent,” and “graphic” content.

A photo of her existing in her own body with the devices it takes for her to survive. A photo of her smiling, her being happy inside of her disabled body.

I am disgusted. The idea that disabled people are expected to censor their bodies and hide away any proof of their disability from the non-disabled majority makes me sick. Disabled people like us and our bodies do not deserve to be locked away behind a censor or be forcibly covered up for the sake of non-disabled people’s comfort.

Your discomfort is not more important than a disabled person’s equal right to exist.

[thelegendofmik]

sorry for being emo here but this is the only place I can post this without the person in question seeing it lol

don’t you just love when a friend doesn’t even invite you to their birthday and then you find out it’s because it wasn’t accessible so instead of putting in some effort to make their event inclusive to the whole friend group they just chose not to tell me. And then when I found out they went “you can come if you want not sure it’s accessible tho”. Like get fucked. If you really wanted me there it would have been accessible.

Anyways I have instead spent the night having a bath and playing Zelda which imo has been so much more fun than inaccessible karaoke lmaooo.

honestly I was not expecting to be crying about not being invited to a party at 21 lol but here we are.

[settlercolonialismisbad]

June is over, but pride is every day, bitches. Happy Disability Awareness Month - making content accessible for all users is always worth doing. Don’t forget alt text and video captions.

My request is that you take some time this month to seek out educational information on how to ensure your online posts are accessible to all.

The likelihood that you will go your entire life without being disabled at least once even temporarily is very slim. Disability takes many many forms and it will affect you personally at some point. 

[goblin-king-jay]

I think I'm going to start getting super obnoxious about adding alt text to posts when I reblog them... I have more than one low vision / legally blind friend, and if I'm not looking out for my peers with different disabilities then what kind of friend am I, really?

[crazycatsiren]

Nobody should ever judge anybody for how they choose to read.

I love Amazon as little as the next person, but an e-reader like the Kindle has accessibility features that simply don't exist on physical books.

My Kindle also allows a disabled person like me to buy books without having to go out to places all the time. And it allows someone like me, whose primary language is English and living in a country where books in English are few and far in between, to be able to get the books I want easily and cheaply.

There are people who need audiobooks to be able to enjoy books at all. My almost completely blind grandmother is able to have books in her life again, after not being able to read for many years.

It's a good thing that books are available in different formats now. Books should be accessible for everybody.

[queer-crip-grows]

Right-to-buy council houses without specifically only releasing housing that already had a replacement built was of the most notable ways of the *many* that Thatcher et al screwed the UK.

I’d love to have a law put in place that landlords either have to sign contracts to provide housing under council house-type contracts with rent controls to people on housing benefit etc, or sell to the local council at compulsory purchase prices.

Same for all the houses not being lived in - use to house people under contractual controls, or have to sell to the council housing central fund.

Personally I’d start converting all the office units that are no longer needed because so many people are working remotely now into housing too.

Same for the huge city centre shops - I’m not sure if the pattern repeats elsewhere, but I live near Glasgow and the city centre has basically died since Covid. No one is renting the huge retail stores and the place is full of unhoused folk, which is a fucking scandal. So convert them into housing; let the buildings see use, and let those folks get off the streets. Pets and kids specifically allowed too - get families out of one-room shelters and into proper homes of their own.

I’ve heard that there would be issues putting in water infrastructure, but given the place is literally crumbling already and usage in so many areas is so low that having workers digging up the streets to install water lines wouldn’t cause enormous disruption, the time to do this is *now*. Build rainwater catchment and purification systems on roofs too - we get so much rain in the UK it’s kind of ridiculous not to use it! Some of that could go directly to drip irrigation in gardens, but plenty could go right into the houses/flats too. And of course this would provide tons of jobs in construction, architecture, planning etc etc.

Install gardens and green spaces around the place while you are doing this - offer some at low rent, or to buy cheaply, to market gardeners, but specifically put spaces in for communal gardens with the idea of offering allotments and encouraging people to grow their own food.

Put solar panels on every roof and integrate spaces for smaller wind turbines amongst the houses too. Huge storage batteries in basements to make the new blocks as low-footprint and self-sufficient as possible power-wise.

It would be a *fantastic* opportunity to create genuinely accessible housing - office buildings and shops already have lifts and wide corridors ideal for wheelchairs and other mobility devices, so keep that in the design when creating housing. There is a hidden epidemic of houselessness amongst disabled people and older folk with mobility needs, so create low-rent council housing that specifically fits those needs there.

It would regenerate the areas - all the smaller shopfronts not suitable for housing conversion would fill up with people offering the things people in residential neighbourhoods need, with a guaranteed payer base. People on low incomes *use* all of their incomes on necessities, so small businesses selling those necessities will do well. Offer small businesses low rents to provide those necessities. Any that don’t fill up, offer to charities and use for council staff offering the aid and advice people transitioning into housing actually *need*.

Carers are generally low-paid - so this would be an opportunity to offer them cheap housing close to a huge client base in the new accessible housing. No need for low-paid, mostly-female workers to dash constantly between clients in cars. They could walk to work and walk in between clients, who would also no longer be trapped in inaccessible homes, so people who are not actually bedbound would hopefully be less housebound.

Put rooms in the blocks for communal and co-op activities to reduce isolation - with the lifts and wide corridors, even people who are functionally housebound are likely to be able to make it to a room in their own building, and even quite young children could get to those places safely on their own if their parents are working. Wraparound childcare, paid and informal, near where folks actually live.

City centre areas that are now largely dead other than unhoused people, with limited and decreasing zero economic activity taking place and a decreasing incentive for businesses to set up there rather than in out-of-town retail parks people need to drive to, would become vibrant communities with every incentive for businesses to set up there, particularly for the small businesses that still employ the majority of people.

It wouldn’t take a lot to extend this model to transform those out-of-town business parks that are currently largely empty either; nothing says the businesses that are still there would need to move, and they would have a huge new pool of potential employees living within easily walkable distance, though there would need to be oversight to make sure places like Amazon didn’t attempt to buy them up and turn them into company housing. There would need to be a little more investment to provide green transport links like electric buses and trains so that it would be easier for small businesses to move in to provide services, but given the tax income that would result and the reduction in pollution the investment would probably pay itself back within a decade or so.

[blackbird-brewster]

We've been getting back into Pokémon GO and today was Community Day, but it was also 34°C (summer time baybeee).

Because neither of us have temperature regulation due to disabilities, we opted to have lunch at the mall and play PoGo from there.

It was so much fun too! Spent two hours just chilling and catching Porygon around the mall. We were both dressed head to toe in Pokémon stuff, me, pictured above in my overalls and Doom Them wore all their ghost/Gengar stuff. We love playing video games together, especially Pokémon! Making today's event accessible by staying indoors was amazing. We even did a Spotify jam session so we could both listen to our Pokémon playlist we've built through the years.

There is something so fucking freeing about being 36 and the hugest pokemon nerds. Cringe culture is dead, just let yourself (and others) enjoy whatever brings them joy. The world is so bleak and we all need to have happiness in our lives, do whatever you want forever.

[ID: A full length photo of Kit, a white person with a green mullet and pink glasses. They're wearing a floral face mask which covers their mouth, but their eyes show they're smiling. Kit is holding a large Eevee plush. They have on a blue shirt with pikachu all over print and shortalls with pastel colours and pokemon print. They also have Jigglypuff socks on.]

[dillyt]

Great news for uninsured adults in the USA who want a COVID-19 booster! It now appears that ALL CVS locations are now active participants in the Bridge Access Program. The Bridge Access Program gives out free Covid-19 vaccinations to 18+ adults who otherwise can't afford one, so if you have a CVS near you, please go get one! For others who don't have a CVS near them, please go to vaccines.gov, click on "Find Covid-19 vaccines", fill out which vaccines you prefer (you can mix different vaccines if you have to so i reccomend just marking all of them for the age groups you need), and when the next page loads mark the "Bridge Access Program Participant" option to see only locations that are Bridge Access Program participants. Hopefully, other places that aren't CVS will start participating soon, so just check back every so often to see if there are any updates. The CDC Bridge Access Program website also has more details on what locations will be participating, but only CVS is appearing as an active participant on the vaccines.gov location finder at the moment.

[thecreativemillennial]

[franknfurterstriangulardinosaur]

Make braille menus please please please. I cannot read for my blind friends and they cannot read because their eyes are blind. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. I can’t read for them, the words try and punch me in the face