I’m just curious about this. As someone with a chronic illness, I pretty much never hear anyone talk about things related to the sorts of difficulties and discrimination I and others might face within society. I’m not aware of companies or governments doing anything special to bring awareness on the same scale of say, pride month for instance. In fact certain aspects of accessibility were only normalized during the pandemic when healthy people needed them and now they’re being gradually rescinded now that they don’t. It’s annoying for those who’ve come to prefer those accommodations. It’s cruel for those who rely on them.
And just to be clear, I’m not suggesting this is an either or sort of thing. I’m just wondering why it’s not a that and this sort of thing. It’s possible I’m not considering the whole picture here, and I don’t mean for this to be controversial.
No chronic illnesses and not LGBTQ here, so please correct me if I get anything wrong.
The reason many LGBTQ issues sees widespread support now wasn’t because governments and companies decided it was ok, it was because of decades of small battles and struggles that really accelerated into widespread acceptance throughout the 10’s, and to which we are already seeing a backlash in terms of the attacks on trans rights (just to note that acceptance is far from complete or just a constant journey in one direction).
Companies adopted pride not because they are allies but because it became more profitable to be pro-LGBTQ than against. Govs don’t work off profitability exactly, but public opinion shifted so far that Obama went from tepidly approving of civil unions to basically every mainstream democrat being pro-LGBTQ now. Even many Republican senators signed on to the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022.
I don’t have a lot of answers for why that doesn’t exist for people with chronic issues / disabilities yet. I’m sure there are many people working to advocate to make it so and I think we all have a responsibility to encourage accessibility as a right. I don’t think anyone saw the acceleration of pro-LGBTQ popular acceptance that was the 10’s coming, and I don’t think you can attribute it to one particular cause. The tough and unsatisfying answer is “it’s complicated,” but I hope that the example of LGBTQ progress can be a source of solidarity and support for advocating for accessibility.
Those of us with chronic disabilities tend to have to be very careful about how we spend our energy. Obviously it varies from person to person, disability to disability. But a lot of us just…can’t. We can’t lobby our local politicians or run for government positions, we can’t go to protests or rallies, we can’t volunteer for campaigns–we just can’t. Or at least, not much. Again, it’ll depend on the person.
And even organizing can take a lot of energy. Someone would have to organize all of us together, across all of these many different disabilities. How do you find them all and reach out to them, let alone manage to do all of that organizing despite your disability?
I know it can happen and that’s how the ADA was created, but the hurdles are great.
Totally fair, and I think that’s why allyship and solidarity are so important. I can’t speak to what it feels like to have a chronic disability, but I can amplify the voices of those who do and help to organize broader coalitions in support of accessibility.
