We all have a disability

Attending the VSA conference on disability and arts education last week, I was struck by how many times I heard someone say to me: “We all have a disability.” What they meant was that in some way or another, we all have challenges we are trying to overcome. Disabilities may be physical or mental; visually distinguishable or hidden; medically determined by a professional, self-diagnosed, or neither. What this reframing of disability did, however, was to make me a part of a community I had heretofore never seen myself a part of. Outsider became insider.

It also gives increased urgency for the need for the universal design - the design of artifacts and spaces for people of all ability levels. In a classroom, this is universal design for learning so that all students can learn. In public facilities, this is accessibility standards. And the most interesting thing about universal design is that when you design for the “disabled”, you often improve the situation for the “abled”. For example, using larger type for the visually impaired makes papers easier for those with perfect vision to read.

The conference was an amazing experience, one which is still sinking into me more deeply.