Join Beth Wiesendanger, Senior Program Manager, Public Policy, Diversity & Inclusion at Fiverr, and Lawrence Carter-Long (LCL), Director of Communications, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF), for a panel discussion on the challenges of living with disabilities. Participants will learn about the historical and structural disparities that affect people with disabilities, and how disparities are perpetuated in workplaces, the media, and other institutions. From there, the panelists will share the necessary actions to address inequities so that those with disabilities can succeed and thrive.
Main Takeaways:
- Beth: Disabled people have been around forever, but disabled advocacy is comparatively recent history.
- LCL: Compliance is the least amount that you can do so that you don’t get sued. But as we know with any element of design or creativity, that doesn’t mean it’s the best that you can do. It’s really important that we apply those lessons that we learned in real life to try to make things as inclusive and accessible as possible, and not just do the minimum that’s required by law
- Beth: The truth is, at some point, you or someone you know will have a disability. And if knowing that fact gives you some kind of negative response, really explore that feeling, because that feeling is the root. As a disabled person, along with other people who identify with being disabled, we don’t have less value.
- LCL: Make a conscious attempt to be your own critic. Think about how disability is represented in the media. The only way these stereotypes are going to change, the only way that we’re going to see more and more increased representation, is if we tell the people who make those movies in the networks, “Thank you for doing that, that was the way to do it” or, “This is how you need to change it.”
Q&A Questions/Resources:
- How about those of us with invisible disabilities?
- Beth: The experience of somebody who is living with an invisible disability, in a lot of ways, is challenging in a different way than someone like myself who has a visible disability. When we talk about living loud and proud, you might have an invisible disability, but you’re just as worthy and just as valuable and educated on living with a disability, as somebody with a visible disability.
- What are some motivational resources for people with disabilities?
- LCL: I just encourage people to get curious about what the experience of people who have vision impairments who are blind might be, get to know some folks with intellectual disabilities or with psychiatric disabilities or learning disabilities, ADHD or dyslexia. All of those things are going to inform your opinions, expand your understanding, and make you a better advocate for your community.
- Beth also suggested to diversify the media you consume and one way to do that is to search for influencers to follow in the disabled community. Here are some she recommends:
Last modified on June 23, 2021
