When I started my disability journey I was shocked by the responses I got from Council officers. When I tried to get a blue badge, for example, officers insisted there was nothing wrong with me! And when I invited them to my home to view my medical records they declined, citing health and safety reasons.
They also threatened to tow my car away when I was in intensive care undergoing major thoracic surgery because I could not prove to their satisfaction that I was the resident of the home the car was parked in front of.
Unfortunately I have many other examples of the local authority meteing out unempathetic and inequitable treatment to myself and other disabled people and I regularly write think-pieces for this site and letters for the Camden New Journal and the Ham and High railing against institutional discrimination against disabled people.
Too few of us challenge such behaviours
But an incident that occurred a few days reminded me that it is not only insitutions that can make disabled people’s lives harder. Sadly, other members of our own communities can do as well.
I was attending a residents’ meeting in a building with low light and the paperwork was not in large print. In such situations I use a magnifying glass with a light provided by Moorfields Eye Hospital as I have low vision. Without the aid I could not have read the agenda.
To my surprise, a resident sitting opposite told me to stop using the light as it affected her. This request was not whispered but boomed out to the attendees as a whole. Could she not have just moved her chair? Or at least asked me if I really needed the light?
This may seem petty, but it isn’t. It is an example of the kind of intolerance that is sometimes directed at people with an impairments when they are using devices to aid their functioning. I am thinking about how, say, people in wheelchairs, have been told to get out of the way, especially on buses.
These instances are, I am afraid, part of the widespread culture of contempt towards disabled people.
We are not asking for favours but fighting for our rights.
Imagine if a person of colour was told to go back to their own country. Some may say that the two are not comparable but I maintain my experiences are rooted in a similar culture of prejudice. What should I, or the chair of the meeting, have done? I thought of telling the objector that I found her remark offensive and hurtful, but worried others at the meeting would not get my point.
Too few of us challenge such behaviours as was the case in the past with racism. It is not easy to challenge disablism. I recently did in public when at a disability session on planning when an officer told me he did not have to consult disabled people.
This was easy as there were councillors present and I could quote the 2010 Equality Act. Perhaps Camden Disability Action could organise a series of seminars on assertiveness.
In my view it is only by challenging such prejudice that we will destroy the disabalist culture and actions that many of us face. We are not asking for favours but fighting for our rights.
