Believing in things that aren’t physically there already can be challenging, and sometimes your goals feel virtually impossible. Living with a disability might mean at times your goals might be impossible. But, still, with putting equipment and little things in place your dream can become a reality. Here are four ways you can make your goals possible.
Accessibility
People often believe that accessibility is just a wheelchair entrance into a building. From my own experience, it’s a whole lot more than this. People with disabilities (PwD) often call this access or accessibility, but everyone else, non-disabled folks call it “just an easier way of doing things”.
For many PwD these can be big products like a ramp instead of stairs, a gas fire instead of a wood fire, and an electric stovetop instead of a gas one. Or this can be small like having thick cutlery handles instead of normal ones, having your pills in individual daily boxes so you don’t forget to take them, or even a headphone stands instead of leaving your headphones all around the place 🥲
Access can be as small or as big as you need it. many people don’t put a label on it, while some people do and it’s all right. Just remember you can label it or you don’t label it.
Social media and Google
In this day of age, technology is growing rapidly, and it’s becoming easier and easier to search, discover and purchase things worldwide. people often believe that accessibility is just a wheelchair entrance into a building. From my own experience, it’s a whole lot more than this. People with disabilities (PwD) often call this access or accessibility, but everyone else, non-disabled folks call it “just an easier way of doing things”.
It’s becoming easier for people to connect with like-minded folks across the world. with technology growing rapidly you can not only learn from other people’s experiences on Instagram and TikTok but also use Google’s search engine to your advantage. With asking broad questions, like “what is a disability?” a snippet comes up at the top of the search engine with the answer that is the right answer. When you’re looking for the best products Google provides you with the best answers possible for the product or the answers you are looking for.
Using Google has become helpful for me. from understanding what problems I’m experiencing a day in and day out, to finding the best products possible for my access needs.
Whenever friends of mine share a post or a TikTok video on their IG Stories that seem fun or helpful I start exploring their profile and learning from them, and their experience of handling access, a product, or issues in general.
Trial and error
With connecting on social media with people and using google to your advantage it’s ready to start trailing products to best suit your needs. Just remember that not every product you purchase will be right for your needs. Some products are right for your access needs other products won’t be.
Purchasing things to find the right product for your access needs takes time, and therefore I’ve used the reviews and social media as a resource to find the right products for my needs. People with disabilities’ access needs are broad, very broad; it’s not just left or right, there are so many disabilities and disability barriers out there that there isn’t just one answer to a question.
Experimenting takes time and money. Most access things, if you think big can be expensive, but if they are small things like Velcro on shoelaces or scrunchies instead of hair ties, access can be quite cheap.
Sharing your experience with others
Sharing the products that I use and what I get up to during the day is vital. This is to allow PwD and people with lived experience of disability to learn from my mistakes and to help those in similar situations as I am. For me, I struggle with connecting with people, and that’s why I make my social media public for people to find the answers they are looking for. from my own experience, it becomes much harder to contact folks and get the details that way.
Regardless of if you have a disability or not, the disability community is so broad and can be at times welcoming. Just remember you don’t have to put a label on what makes things easier for you, to allow you to live the life you want to live. Be true to yourself, and life will lead you the way.
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