Disrupting Ableism: Everyone has a disability

One of the most interesting things about "disability" is that everyone has it, even you. It's something we often experience without even realizing. In more detail, when disability occurs, exclusion is present either temporarily, situationally, or permanently. Disability doesn't always imply a medical condition as someone once said that disability occurs when there is a lack of harmony between an individual and their surroundings.

Situational disability is something we experience in our daily lives. Most of us don't often see it as a disability, perhaps because we are accustomed to it. Situational disability is caused by the situations we find ourselves in. For example, my dad went to a deaf community event with me. My father is hearing and doesn't know sign language. In that environment, he became disabled due to the language barrier. He couldn't communicate without depending on me.

Another example of situational disability is when you try to use your phone outside while the sunlight is shining on the screen, making it hard for you to see. You experience visual challenges that make it difficult to use your phone. But thanks to assistive technologies, you can use voice control, screen readers, and other tools / assistive features.

Temporary disability is something we experience once in a while in life. They come and go and are not meant to stay permanently. For example, depression or fatigue can limit our productivity, making it challenging to perform tasks as usual. Another example would be a foot injury that prevents us from walking or moving without assistance for a period of time. An ear infection can also temporarily affect our hearing until we recover. Assistive technologies such as Koda, the app caption conversion with multiple speakers, can help us keep up with conversations.

Permanent disability is something a few of us experience. Some are born with it, while others acquire it at different stages of life—early, middle, or later. Examples of permanent disabilities include deafness, hearing loss, brain injury, loss of limb, and blindness, to name a few.

People with permanent disabilities often drive the progress of accessibility design and assistive technologies. What many of us fail to realize is that these tools benefit all of us, even those without permanent disabilities. It's important to keep in mind that disability is something we all experience, whether digitally or environmentally. The use of assistive technologies and accessibility design is critical for all of us to have and be able to access at any time without needing to “ask” for it.