Helping helpfully – what do people with disabilities really want?

What does it mean to be accessible? What is Ableism? How can you help people with disabilities participate more fully in Meeting? Four Friends shared their experiences.

Audio recording (43 minutes, mp3)

Content from Slides:

Accessibility is the practice of making information, activities, and/or environments sensible, meaningful, and usable for as many people as possible.

Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior.
Ableism  is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’.

The four categories of accessibility:

• • Physical/architectural
  • Programmatic and policy
  • Information and communications
  • Attitudinal

How to help: please…

• • Don’t make assumptions
  • Ask us if we need help
  • Listen to what we say and take direction from us on how to help.
  • Know that it’s not personal if we say “no thanks.”
  • Understand we may not always have the answers.
  • Include us in decision making – “Nothing about us without us.”