Disability Tips from a Once Ignorant Able-Bodied Person

By:  Bennett Hara

Before I worked at the DCP (UCLA’s Disabilities and Computing Program), disability and disability culture were not really a part of my life.  While I might have had friends who had invisible disabilities they never disclosed to me, I had no regular interaction with that demographic. I’ve now worked at the DCP for 9 months and been exposed to disability on the daily.  In the office, since I was the only one who had no disability experience, I was named the “resident normie” and learned a lot. Here are some interesting things I learned.

1. Ask Before Touching or Helping

When I see someone with a disability struggling it’s my natural instinct to want to help them. I want to redirect a blind person who looks lost or help push a wheelchair user who seems to be struggling to get up a hill. Although they may seem to need help, it’s always better to ask before engaging. Sometimes, what looks like struggle to me, is just them going about their daily life comfortably.  The blind person may seem lost to me, but maybe they’re not. The wheelchair user may seem like they’re struggling up the hill, but maybe that’s a comfortable and safe pace for them on a route they take every day. Remember that they may be fine on their own. Also if you don’t know how to properly help them, it can actually make their problem worse. For example, if the blind person is relying on certain landmarks to get where they’re going, then me redirecting them or even turning them slightly may cause them to lose track of where they are and the mental path they were following.

2.  Give Descriptive Directions to Blind People

I know this one may seem obvious as you read the title, but you really don’t think about how often we give directions by visual reference points or pointing.  I learned all about this because one of my coworkers is blind and able to navigate around the UCLA campus by herself with only a cane and it blows my mind. When I first noticed this, I didn’t really understand how she did it.  Honestly, I still don’t totally get it. She knows the path she needs to travel in order to get to class and most of the time she does it 100% without problem. But, sometimes she can get off track and lost. For example, she mentioned to me once that when she walks past the inverted fountain, she listens for the sound of the water, so when it is off it can disorient her.  If you see a blind person who seems lost, ask them if they need help or they may even ask you. When giving them directions make sure to use descriptive words but don’t use visual cues (like when you see the boulder, turn left) and don’t point to anything. Let them know how far they need to travel and when to turn. Remember they can’t see anything (that’s how blindness works) so be specific in your directions. 

3. Holding the Door Open for Wheelchair Users

Holding the door open for a wheelchair user should seem like common sense, as many of these points do.  But, if you pay attention when you’re out and about, a lot of people don’t look over their shoulder to see if anyone is behind them, especially when they have earbuds in. Navigating around in a wheelchair is pretty tough and opening a pull door then having to quickly wheel through the doorway before the door closes on you can be challenging, sometimes even physically impossible if the door is heavy.  If you see a wheelchair user coming in behind you (or any human being really), just hold the door open; they will really appreciate it. One common mistake to keep in mind is, don’t stand in the doorway and hold it open with your arm outstretched. There isn’t enough room for them to get by you that way. Stay on the outside of the door so that you are not blocking the path.

4. Don’t Block Walkways or Buttons

Again, common sense, right?  Blocking walkways or crosswalk/elevator buttons with bikes, Bird scooters or anything else can be troublesome for both wheelchair users and visually impaired individuals. I mean, blocking pathways is pretty rude regardless… Ramps are especially essential for wheelchair users to get to different levels and if something is blocking that, then it becomes almost impossible for them to get where they need to go. Don’t forget that wheelchair users need more space to pass and move around, so even if you’re partially blocking a path and you think people can get by, you may be completely preventing a wheelchair from getting through.  Also if a bike or a Bird scooter is parked in the middle of a pathway that a blind person expects to be clear, they can trip over it and injure themselves. Keep pathways, curb cuts, elevator paths (and buttons), ramps, and doorways clear. There’s a reason campus has specific places for parking them. Haven’t you heard of the term “asshole parking”? Don’t be that person. Be aware of where you leave your bikes and Birds because it can negatively affect the disabled community in many ways.

5. Adaptive Sports:  Wheelchair Skateboarding (WCMX)

Growing up I didn’t play a lot of team sports, so I wasn’t aware of sports able-bodied or otherwise.  I was always more into skateboarding and surfing. WCMX(“wheelchair motocross” or wheelchair skateboarding) was the first adaptive sport I was introduced to because I ran across a video of it on when a skateboarding Instagram page posted some clips of it. When I saw it I was amazed. They were going all out doing the gnarliest tricks. I would think that being in a wheelchair would make them more hesitant to commit to gnarlier tricks but it didn’t. They didn’t let their disability hold them back from doing what they loved and it really inspired me. 

6. Pushing in a Wheelchair is Really Tough!

When you see someone pushing a wheelchair, you don’t really think about the effort or muscles it takes or how different accessible routes can be from the main ones.  I discovered this when my wheelchair using coworker asked me to help take a wheelchair from her apartment to our office for her. Out of curiosity, I sat in it and trying to push the way she does, and it was way tougher than I expected.  I ended up having to get out of it and push it from behind on all the hills. I swear, pushing uphill without power assist is almost impossible. Even just by sitting in the chair and pushing it on the flat parts, I was surprisingly sweaty by the time I got to the office.  In a wheelchair, you have to plan out your routes way more because you can no longer go up stairs and sometimes you have to find inconspicuous alternatives. This usually means taking longer roundabout paths and if an elevator is out of order, you have to find even another route that works. Being in a wheelchair totally changes your perspective when it comes to transportation and getting around.

7. Digital Accessibility is Important

I know most of us take access to the internet for granted.  I didn’t know anything about digital accessibility and adaptive technologies until I started working at the DCP and became exposed to it. Blind people use screen readers which read web and computer content back to them in a sensible way. There’s also technology that reads web content and translates it into braille. For both of these adaptive technologies to work properly, the documents have to have accessibility encoded into them so the technology can work properly with the web content. Part of my job at the DCP is to make documents that are on UCLA’s websites accessible. Making the online world accessible is essential. You can learn almost anything on the internet or have conversations with people from around the world. Sometimes having a disability can inhibit people from fully interacting with the physical world but they can easily explore the online world, if it’s made accessible. Web accessibility needs to be built into web content so people with disabilities can freely explore their interests and talk to people they couldn’t necessarily meet in person.

8. Just Be Nice and Don’t Be Afraid To Ask

As I said before, in my life I haven’t known many people with disabilities so I didn’t know that much about disability etiquette. I’ve learned a lot since I started working at the DCP and most of the etiquette stuff seems like common sense if you’re just nice. Sometimes people can get nervous when they interact with someone with a disability since they don’t have experience and don’t know what’s okay to ask. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It’s better to ask and get it right the first time than to get too nervous to ask and then do something offensive. Just be nice and treat them like a person.

In conclusion, working at the DCP has really made me realize how ignorant I was when I started.  It also made me realize how little exposure these topics get in the media and in pop culture. Disability culture and rights needs to be pushed into pop culture and mass media. Today, many minority groups are exposing the injustices they have faced and are facing, and people are becoming more aware of these problems in the world. The disabled community is getting looked over in this time of exposing minority groups. I too was once unaware of all the struggles the disabled community faced but working at the DCP has opened my eyes to all the injustices they face. Disability etiquette is something I’ve become a lot more knowledgeable about and, as I said before, most of it seems like common sense, if you just be nice.  It’s really that simple. I’m a student with no background in disability culture… so if I can do it, you definitely can too.

Originally Posted: 3 December 2019