The disability community isn’t necessarily easy to lump together into one group. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 61 million Americans live with some sort of disability that impacts their daily life. However, the people that make up this number could be any age, race, gender and more. Considering a person with disabilities to automatically be put into a category of simply being a disabled person isn’t fair because the disabled community is incredibly diverse. Here’s some insight on how to understand the diversity of the disability community a little better.
How Experiences And Identities Shape People With Disabilities
A person with a physical disability may approach their circumstance differently than others depending on their past experiences and how they identify themselves. In many ways, having a physical disability is just one component of how a person identifies themselves. Other factors could be their race, gender, sexuality, economic class, social class or religious beliefs. So an experience one person has by having a physical disability could be vastly different than the experience of another person, and many times this experience is based on their chosen identity.
Understanding The Types Of Disabilities People Have
A physical disability is much more different than a cognitive disability. You can then break down the specific disability even further by labeling it with a specific diagnosis. A person with a physical disability may view their place in society much differently than a person with a cognitive disability. Every disability is unique and even two people with the same disability may not have the same beliefs or views as each other. When you gain a better understanding of the differences in the disabilities and how they shape people as individuals, you can see why it’s very difficult to consider a person with disabilities to be like every other disabled person.
Every Person Has A Different Philosophy On Disabilities
People handle their disabilities differently. Some people fight to rise above the disability to make a difference in the world and provide inspiration to others. While other people choose to continue living their life as normally as possible and simply accept their disability as a new way of living. There’s no right or wrong way to live your life when you have a disability, but it can sometimes be difficult for other people to understand this. Unique philosophies and perspectives are what shape diversity within the disability community and offer many different views for the world around us.
Next Day Access works within the disability community every day and sees first-hand the diversity among the community. We strive to be inclusive of everyone by offering unique and customizable solutions for accessibility regardless of your physical disability. Everyone in the disability community is unique to us and we take great pride in treating our customers as individuals rather than being part of an overarching group. If you have any specific accessibility needs or desires, contact us today to schedule a free assessment and we would be happy to talk to you.
