By Alycia & Marty Anderson The Alycia Anderson Company Staff
The Interconnected Elements that Lead to Authentic Disability Inclusion: A Full Revolution
In the ongoing journey toward disability inclusion and equity, there are certain key concepts that are instrumental for allies, advocates and activists to understand: intersectionality, accessibility, representation, and self-identity (self-ID). Together these principles when practiced create a powerful, self-sustaining reinforcement loop. Each element when put into action supports and fuels the others, advancing disability inclusion across our society. Understanding how these components interact can help us push forward on the road to a more inclusive world for everyone.
Intersectionality: Building Community Solidarity
We are just beginning the work to reveal the complex and diverse identities that live within the disabled community. The lack of well-known transparency in the statistics of our marginalized group has shielded the blatant neglect we have been living under, but when we learn to embrace our intersectionality, we begin to peel back the truth creating a more equitable environment where every voice matters and is heard.
Applying the fundamentals of this work through the lens of disability recognizes that individuals in our ranks are facing multiple and overlapping disadvantages, and taking a true accounting of what comprises our various identities will strengthen our community solidarity. Ultimately understanding and uncovering the true effects of our intersections will encourage broader, inclusive policies that benefit all individuals, particularly those who face compounded barriers.
Intersectionality opens the door to the disabled community’s full understanding of who we are as individuals, how we fit into the various groups within our overall population, and what the effects of discrimination or privilege have translated to in our lives.
Accessibility: The Foundation for Inclusion
Accessibility is the foundation upon which inclusive environments are built. It enhances participation in social and professional spaces by ensuring that everyone can access and engage with their surroundings. Accessible environments promote the equitable involvement of disabled voices and bodies, ensuring they are present in conversations and decision-making processes.
We all know when something is accessible, and it is blatantly obvious when it is not.
When it comes to the essentials, whether apparent or non apparent, the abilities we all equally share in this world demand access to the resources and opportunities we need to survive and thrive.
Whether physical accessibility requirements are dismissed via loopholes related to construction dates, historical designations, “undue hardships,” or other exemptions that procrastinate progress and embolden the discriminatory practices of ableism.
We need to call them out and advocate for remedies that ensure equal access for all of us.
Whether technological accessibility requirements are overlooked and under-supported by companies, organizations and institutions that refuse to implement external and internal solutions that open the door to consumers or potential employees.
We need to use our collective powers to impact real change and shift these perceptions.
It should be well known by now, that when accessibility is prioritized, it creates opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and growth, benefiting society as a whole. Let’s not focus only on what we can do for the world, but also ask what the world can do for us.
Representation: Shifting Narratives
Representation plays a critical role in empowering the disability community. Having visible role models in media, leadership, workplaces, and advocacy shifts societal narratives toward authenticity. When we see ourselves as active participants in the world, it fuels our self-identification, making us feel valued and welcome.
Visibility encourages individuals to embrace their identities and empowers them to advocate for their needs, further strengthening the community.
The work of representation has become ever more complicated as our world has evolved at an ever faster pace. The simplistic representation models that formulated the ideas embedded in the ableism of the ages may already be gone forever. There are no longer just a handful of TV and radio stations delivering their ideas of what the world should be to the masses. The days of the lone movie theater scattered geographically throughout our communities promoting the latest releases depicting the fanciful stories molding our dreams and aspirations are long gone in our rearview mirrors.
The representation we need in today’s age is an ever-moving target, fleeting from podcast episode, to meme, to social thread and disparaged across thousands of media outlets and prime-time events that require virtual fortunes to take part in.
If we nor our able bodied peers, do not see ourselves (the disabled population) in the smattering of success being programmed into our lives through every waking digital pulsed millisecond flashing on our device screens and audio inputs, true disability representation does not exist.
It is the duty and social responsibility of the future trillionaires our community helps to create to include us!
The only other hope is the intentional lifting up of capable representatives in the disabled communities to high level positions in the social structure, that act as confident and respected role models in our places of work, governments and social groups.
Unfortunately if we do not act quickly, I feel that our world may be lost and the opportunity for a real awakening may pass us by.
The only true solution I see in fending off the onslaught of growing indifference in our society may lie in the hope that may be found in the potential empathy, understanding and compassion that the stories of the disabled community may evoke in our numbed, shell-shocked and combat fatigued populace.
Self-Identity (Self-ID): Embracing Empowerment
The true power of all of these elements lies within the individual’s who will lead the future to a better place, and their willingness to self-identify. Self-identity helps individuals embrace their identities and feel empowered by them. When we recognize and celebrate our uniqueness, we become willing to drive advocacy efforts that promote both accessibility, representation and lift up the injustices of intersectionality.
Self-Identification (Self-ID) amplifies our voices in intersectional movements demanding equity, allowing us to share our lived experiences and challenges.
The full circle moment starts, ends or is pushed ahead in the continual empowerment loop of all of these elements through the human will to believe in one’s self, to own up to the layers of who we are, to recognize our advantages and disadvantages, and to be willing to sacrifice or demand what we either need or may give freely.
The power of self-ID exposes and lifts up those of us who become shining lights and beacons for the generations that follow us. We willingly become mentors, coaches or superstars for others like us and help to blaze a trail that others may follow and eventually continue further.
The self identification process reveals the resources, services, programs and potential that has yet to be accessed and it provides the reasons to build the necessary infrastructure to obtain them. Through owning up to who we truly are we promote the environments for others to flourish alongside us and see in them the qualities that we may be lacking in ourselves, lifting and reaching and helping each other up the ladders and struggles of our own lives.
Identifying as disabled should encompass a broader range than just the ailments, impairments or differences you face in your own life but also advocate and uplift your counterparts in the community with different abilities. Visible, invisible, apparent and non apparent alike we need to rally together to increase our collective power and leave no one with a disability behind.
As we embrace our identities, we foster a sense of belonging and strengthen the overall community.
The Positivity Reinforcing a Sustainable Feedback Loop
The interplay of intersectionality, accessibility, representation, and self-identity creates a powerful positive feedback loop:
- Accessible environments are established and amplified.
- Intersectional voices are heard and recognized.
- These voices enrich the authenticity of representation, making it more inclusive and diverse.
- Empowered individuals embrace their identities, increasing confidence and advocacy efforts.
- This advocacy drives greater accessibility, continuing the cycle.
When each component supports the others, we cultivate an environment that builds on itself—a force that drives change and progress in the pursuit of equity for all.
Self-identity / Self-identification (Self-ID), representation, intersectionality and accessibility are not just separate elements; they are interconnected components of a dynamic system that propels not only disability inclusion but all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives forward. By recognizing the elements within this positive feedback loop and nurturing the actions they embody in our own lives, we can create a more inclusive society where every individual feels valued, heard, and empowered to advocate for their needs. Together, let’s work towards a future where disability inclusion and equity are a reality for everyone.