Other inaccessibility issues for disabled people

Disability representation in the media (TV/film)

Two biggest problems with disability representation in the media.   Until the 21st century it was very rare (outside of a movie like the Miracle Worker) to see disabilities in the media.  Now its more common (as of the 90s) to find them but still two things that we really need to fix.

First topic is that despite their being disabled actors out there trying to find jobs.  Like all jobs its very rare for these disabled actors to get jobs.   Molly Burke a blind Canadian youtuber said she has had more then once audition for a role of a blind woman and it has come down to her and one other non-blind woman and its always goes to the non-blind woman.  Once the show she was auditioning for was based upon her!    

I heard on the news when CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) came out the other year Mariee Matlin had to fight for the people playing her on-screen deaf husband and deaf son to be actually deaf and not be hearing actors playing a deaf character.  

And of course a big problem was in the TV show Glee- that the character of Archie (?) was not sitting in the wheelchair properly. 

The next thing we have to fix is the fact what little representation there is out there is generally based on stereotypes.  The main ones being that never do you see disabilities being a spectrum it only goes from being completely blind/deaf/wheelchair user/neurodivergent    A Common stereotypes for blind people is 1)they touch stranger's faces when they meet, and 2)they wear sunglasses indoors.   Even though there's other disabilities that might make one sensitive to light.   

With deaf people the general thought is (beside the thought of "if you speak louder the deaf person might heard you") is that the deaf person would have gotten or was thinking about getting a hearing aid or cochlear implant so they could "hear again"

With wheelchairs the problem is (beside treating them like they're infants or children)- is that they're not able to get out of their wheelchairs ever-or at least not without help.  There's plenty of wheelchair users who can stand up or walk around they're called ambulatory wheelchair users. But when that happens in real life, ambulatory wheelchair users are accused of "being faker" and "not really needing" the wheelchair. 

The other one is the one I only discovered in the last year and that is in media that if the character has or gets a prosthetic limb (let's say leg in this case)-they literally go to bed with it on.  

Then there's other overall stereotypes.

1. Temporary disabled characters which to be fair were fine back in the 1700s and 1800s (18th and 19th century) the Three  examples are Clara from Heidi, Colin from The Secert Garden and "Tiny Tim" from A Christmas Carol  In first two books the main character (Heidi/Mary)  meets and befriends the disabled character and due to "magic" (from either  a mountain for Heidi or a garden for Colin) are able to walk by the story's end.   Its unclear how "Tiny Tim" gets better,I'm going to assume its due to a surgery Scrooge pays for.   Just found two examples of Media temporary blindness-M.A.S.H.'s Hawkeye who in one episode gets blind and assumed cured by the end of it or at least by the next episode.  The same thing happens in Law and Order: SVU to Detective Stabler  

2. Disabled people as Villians- outside of not real mental illness in some of the Batman enemies (Joker), or something like Darth Vader in Episodes IV-VI of Star Wars.  Some of the earliest "disabled villians" just happen to be Pirates.  The most notable examples are Long John Sliver from Treasure Island  and Captain Hook from Peter Pan.   I do want to make a side note, there might be some redeeming qualities  of Long John Sliver (or at least he's grey?) but this isn't the place for them.

3. Helpless.  I don't have an example of this Some people think Quasi from The Hunchback of Notre Dame is this or a victim (or both).  In the book not only is Quasi have a hunched back but he's also is deaf due 2 ringing the bells @Notre Dame de Paris.

4.Inspirational- The main problem is a blind superhero like Daredevil has like 100% super hearing and has the ability to fight baddies.   I don't really  view Tiny Tim as this trope 

Accessible Bathroom Stalls

There's two problems with accessible bathroom stalls.  I'm going to point out that unlike disabled parking spaces anyone can use them-not just disabled people.     There's two problems I see with the bathroom stalls.  I'm also aware there's invisible disabilities out there as well

The first thing is people like moms with small children needing to use the accesible stall because either their children can't be on their own or it just happens to have the change table in it.  So it means that if a disabled person (wheelchair, or something) arrives after a mom goes into the stall-they have to wait for them to come out.      Another version of it is other non-disabled people using the stalls for various reasons-once Mom and I thought in a an airport someone was changing their clothes in an airport washroom-and was in the accessible stall.   To be fair-I did use an accessible bathroom once-but my excuse is  I was dealing with a bundle buggy that particular day and since I needed to take it everywhere with me. and I can't really take our big bundle buggies into a normal stall-its too big.  Something like my friend's bundle buggy-i might be able too but not this one.

The other problem is in smaller or at least older buildings.  The change table is smack Infront of the door to the accessible stall.  So sometimes there's occasions where you go into a washroom and whomever last used the change table left it down.   I remember once in Tim Hortons in Achilles when I still was in contact with a different friend I will call them "Jane" who had to use a wheelchair (she didn't use too) and she had to go to the washroom-and I went into the washroom w/ her and smack in the way was the change table being down so I had to put it up so Jane could get to the door. 

Another problem is sometimes the "accessibility" stall is not big enough for someone to fit through.  Or even be able to stand up in to move to the toilet.  (so doubted it would be big enough for a caregiver or a service dog to be in).

1,2,3 testing

DAS Pass,  Disney Parks, USA

DAS Pass in the USA parks had until May 4th at Walt Disney World or June 9th at Disneyland  of this year ,  the DAS Pass  has been allowed for people with all disabilities in the Parks.   But due to so-called abuse (surprise, surprise),  they changed the system for it being for only "people with autism* or other development disorders"  and not for people with mobility or other issues.  I think the theory is that someone using a wheelchair or a mobility scooter, can "stand" in line in the rides' wait line, vs.  someone who is autistic who gets impatient very easily without thinking of problems like the potential for other  disabled people not being able to regulate their body temperature or they might not have enough "Spoons" to be able to wait in line for a long time if they have chronic illness.

Apparently with the DAS pass that when it was avaible for everyone who was disabled-who could use it they could pre-select the rides with a call back time-similar to the old Fast Pass system. 

@Disneywoman Omg this is a very valuable resource, thanks for compiling this <3

@Disneywoman One silver lining to the above: it discourages us disabled folk from indulging in unhealthy lifestyles. That's not to say it's all okay, but as we already know, the Standard American Diet is indeed SAD. Those big cups of soda from the fountain are full of sugar & empty calories; drive-thrus sell slop full of fat, salt, preservatives & flavor enhancers to get customers hooked on the product. Obesity-related diseases are the leading factors of high mortality in the US: > 600,000 deaths a year. As a disabled person myself, while I know accessibility issues are real & need to be fixed, when it comes to fast food restaurants & convenience stores we ought to avoid them as much as we can in any case. Nutritionless swill only makes our disabilities worse.

Re representation of the disabled in entertainment media: Am not sure how to fix that issue. Federal & state restrictions would inevitably be unconstitutional (1A). Affirmative action-style requirements for, say, a certain %age of movies/shows to feature disabled leading characters or plotlines involving disabled characters would have the same problem. Even if that could be solved (or just evaded--you can interpret the law to mean almost anything if you're skilled in legalistic casuistry), such statutes would inevitably lead to lousy movies & shows that would fail at the box office &/or not get high enough views. Look what happened to certain Marvel franchises & the Star Wars spin-off flicks.

Fake Food allergies:

People who pretend to have food allergies either because they don’t like something or because they’re following a fad diet cause a barrier for people with genuine food allergies.   This is a barrier for genuine food allergy sufferers due to the fact that most of them can’t dine out anymore for fear of not being believed by the servers anymore.

The servers get wary of people claiming allergies and then  see them either ordering or sneaking a bit of someone else’s food that has the allergen in it, to the point that they don’t really want to believe anyone who says that they have an allergy.   

As of 2017, there have been a few cases where servers probably didn’t believe the person has allergies, and they were taken to the hospital, sometimes in a coma, even due to being given food that has an allergen in it. 

Due to this fear, it means that people with genuine allergies can’t go out to social functions like birthdays, anniversary’s or other fun activities that might be in a restaurant due to the server might not believe them about their allergy. 

A:Fake Service Dogs 

There been several cases where service dogs have to be retired due to being attacked or harmed by fake service dogs. This and the possibility of PTSD with them that can't be worked though means they have to be retired because they can't work anymore.  Due to fake service dogs and the argument they case a lot of service dog handlers don't bother getting a new one or if they do it can be a long wait.  So this means handlers loose their independence they get with the service dog which are being eaten away by people bringing in their pets and ESAS (which under the law do not have any rights) are service dogs.

There is a much bigger issue with fake service dogs besides handlers loosing their independence from them. is the fact since 2016 a quarter of people of all ages have been disfigured or killed by fake service dogs.

 Another issue with fake service dogs  is they make genuine service dogs look bad. So once a business been disrupted by a fake service dog in some way, employees will refuse genuine  service dogs teams coming into the business because the workers assume the genuine service dogs will cause a disruption like the fake service dogs. So it leads to the handler or the handler's friends or family members  of genuine  service dogs having to argue with employees and management in letting the service dogs in.  One case of what I believe was this is one time in U.S. Molly Burke (a blind Canadian youtuber) and her Mom Neve had to argue with a Uber drive about Molly's then-service dog Gallop being an service dog and after the driver relented and let the dog into the car that the driver drove with one hand and was 'filming" Molly/the dog to "prove" the dog wasn't a true service dog.

One of the common arguments that genuine service dogs handlers have to deal with on almost daily basis is the fact employees believe there is "paperwork" (ID/registration) for service dogs. Outside of Service dog schools such thing either don't exist or aren't needed.  But yet the people bringing in their pet dog or ESA and bring "paper work" with them are fulfilling a myth that paperwork exists for service dogs.  Molly the other month went to a new gym (she just moved in with her current boyfriend)- and the employees there asked Molly for paperwork for her service dog, Elton John, and when Molly asked if there are others Service dog handlers the employees said "yes and they had their dogs' papers ready"   Not only do paperwork not exist for Service dogs but even if they DID exist its illegal to ask for them unless the dog's been unruly.

In Canada, outside of B.C. the only IDs that seem to be around is from service dogs schools.  Outside of that only B.C. has service dog ID due to having a huge problem of fake service dogs from 2011-2014,  in 2015 B.C. implented a province Service dog ID if your SD isn't from an accredit school. Since Molly lived/lives sometimes in B.C. she called to check to see if her service dog school (Mira) was on the accredit school list and it is.   But since 2015 when Molly lives in B.C.  she has to have to call more then once the B.C. hotline to get employees educated about the ID business. That means Molly goes to a business the employee asks for Molly's Service Dog ID, Molly shows them her Service Dog School ID, but the employee then demands that Molly shows her B.C. service dog ID but due to having the Service Dog School ID she doesn't need the B.C. Service Dog ID but the employees argue with her about she "needs to have the other one" because they think they know better.

That’s one of several problems (as Molly puts it) of having a service dog ID.  Others are: who would pay for it? What would it look like? How would it be tested because different disabilities need different help? Would disabled people need to travel to someplace to do the testing? For Molly, a problem she has with the B.C. business, besides what I have said already, is if she’s taking her current service dog someplace, is that she has to remember to put the card in this wallet to be able to show it.