Disability advocates making a difference
The law has not been kind to disabled people, to say the least. Yes, great strides have been made with federal statutes like the Americans with Disabilities Act, which attempts to prohibit disability discrimination and require “reasonable accommodations” be made in the employment context. But it’s far from perfect.
The recent pandemic shed a particularly ironic light on disability issues. For years, many disabled people have been told that it was not “reasonable” for them to expect employers to make “accommodations” like remote work environments. And yet these claims were proven largely wrong when employers enacted sweeping work-from-home reforms for entire offices or companies. Clearly it was far more possible than some employers wanted to admit — they just didn’t want to do it.
So I want to take a moment to give a shout out to disability advocates using the internet and their voices to fight for their rights and the rights of others. Advocates who use apps like TikTok to spread messages about themselves, their experiences with illness, disability history, current events, and more.
As one of those advocates said, "“So many times, organizations about disability rights are run by non-disabled people…. I think the fact that disabled people themselves are talking for themselves on TikTok, really, is going to be revolutionary.”
I wholeheartedly agree. I could not possibly speak on behalf of disabled people as well as they can. So please, check them out, follow them, and listen to their stories.
