Y’all realize poor eyesight (aka needing glasses) is an actual disability right?
Its simply one our society has normalized and made accommodations for. Its one you can function with at virtually no impairment for most because its easy to get glasses/contacts and enough people need them that we’re taken into account.
People laugh at the concept of needing glasses being a disability, but that’s because its become the standard to see disabilities only as things extremely difficult and unbearable to live with, or things that aren’t for “normal people.”
That’s wrong. How life is for people with glasses is how life should be for people with any other kind of disability – normalized, unstigmatized, unquestioned, accommodated, with resources made available.
It should be just as easy for someone in a wheelchair to have access to things that make life functionally indifferent from people without wheelchairs – just like living with glasses is for most.
Society needs a redefinition of disability – or, scratch that, they need reorienting on what “disabled” looks like and how life should be for disabled people. Being disabled isn’t defined by its hardships – it is a state of being that is unfortunately 99% accompanied by ridiculous hardships because society refuses to accommodate and still thinks they don’t have to because to them, its a simple fact that “being disabled is hard.” Why should they change?
A disability is something that leaves you at a disadvantage, in pain, non functional, etc. without some sort of aid.
Without glasses I could not drive or work, and it would severely impair my ability to even be social. You know what else does that? My other disabilities that are considered “real disabilities.”
You know what aid I have ease of access for? The thing not considered a disability. And I’d bet money that’s a direct reason why.
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All of this.i will say, that while glasses are certainly normalized, cost=wise there’s definitely barriers to getting tests, different kinds of prescriptions, quality of frames and lenses etc. that being said, everything else is spot on.
^^ op is extremely correct and so is this comment. a significant number of latinx and black children in impoverished school districts don’t have the funds to pay for tests and prescriptions. this has turned out to be one major factor that affects these students’ performance in school and, more importantly, their ability to learn in a classroom they cannot see well in. it’s not just abt normalizing accommodations, but making them accessible to everyone!
Another thing with how normalised glasses are: no one thinks twice about people only needing them sometimes, or only needing a very weak prescription. But someone who only needs a wheelchair sometimes? Or who could technically manage without one but everything would be harder? That’s controversial. It needs to not be controversial.
Tag: disability is not an ugly word
Hi new friends! I see you all being super nice in the comments and trying to be as supportive as possible, which is so lovely and great, thank you! I would however like to draw your attention to something real quick that I keep seeing in the comments, just while I’ve got you here.
The phrase “wheelchair bound” is something a lot of disabled people are actually not too keen on and are pushing back against, as it’s not a very nice way to phrase the words “this disabled person uses a wheelchair”.
If you are an able bodied person, I could see how perhaps that one time you
spent on crutches or in a wheelchair because you hurt yourself, was not a
pleasant or positive experience. But for many in the disabled community, a wheelchair is an important mobility aid which helps a lot of people to move from place to place with greater ease and freedom.It is a tool that helps us. Owning a wheelchair for many people is felt to be liberating, as it gives them autonomy and the ability to move around, sometimes even unassisted.
It is a positive thing, and should be framed as such.We are not “bound” to our walking canes, they are a mobility aid that provides us with greater stability on our feet and can help alleviate pain. They are super useful tools. Implying that we are “bound” to such devices, implies that they are limiting, when they are in fact the opposite.
To put it in terms more of you might understand:
I wear glasses. I cannot see without them, not wearing my glasses is a hindrance. I lose my balance and suffer from headaches. I cannot work easily without my glasses, and nor can I do the things I enjoy like reading or going to see movies.
Putting my glasses on enables me to see, it lets me not fall over and avoid severe headaches. I am able to work better, and enjoy the things I like when I wear them.
So am I bound to them? Am I caged in by my frames? Does my quality of life seem worse to you because I am wearing them? Of course not, that would be silly! Right?
It’s a small thing. But small things make up the whole, and the language we use about mobility devices and other kinds of aids is important in how we frame disability, and how disabled people are regarded and ultimately treated by society as a whole.
Which I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, is actually not that great at the moment.
This isn’t intended as a scold, or a slap on the wrist. It is intended to let you know that while your support and sentiment are entirely welcome! It would be beneficial to us if you modified your language to reflect a more positive outlook that didn’t imply disabled people are prisoners of the things that actually help to give them a better quality of life. Thank you 🙂
Please note: this is not the same as when able bodied people say things like “can’t is a four letter word” or treat the word “disabled” like it’s a slur. It’s not. Disabled is a perfectly valid and correct term which many of us would rather you use than trying to call us things like “differently abled” or hilariously “can-abled” which I lose my mind laughing every time I see it, because it just sounds like “cannibal” in my head. Please just say the word disabled. It’s not the bad, horrible thing you’ve been taught to think it means. And neither are mobility aids.