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Antiwork

If you are disabled, Fuck Work

A bit of a controversial opinion, but allow me to explain. The concept of “Universal Design” is almost 60 years old now. The idea behind it is to design everything according to certain accessibility principles, to make sure that products and infrastructures are as accessible as possible to everyone. So for the past 60 years, whenever a road needed updating, whenever a new house was built, whenever a website was created, the people involved should and could have applied Universal Design principles to make sure that most people with disabilities are not left behind. While the world has never been more accessible, most improvements were a merely side product of technological advancements and rarely a conscious effort to improve the lives of people with disabilities. However, that isn't even completely true. Sometimes affordable technologies exist but only get implemented when absolutely necessary. Imagine how cheated people with disabilities feel, realizing…


A bit of a controversial opinion, but allow me to explain.

The concept of “Universal Design” is almost 60 years old now. The idea behind it is to design everything according to certain accessibility principles, to make sure that products and infrastructures are as accessible as possible to everyone. So for the past 60 years, whenever a road needed updating, whenever a new house was built, whenever a website was created, the people involved should and could have applied Universal Design principles to make sure that most people with disabilities are not left behind.

While the world has never been more accessible, most improvements were a merely side product of technological advancements and rarely a conscious effort to improve the lives of people with disabilities. However, that isn't even completely true. Sometimes affordable technologies exist but only get implemented when absolutely necessary. Imagine how cheated people with disabilities feel, realizing that they could have been working from home all along, but it took a pandemic to be granted this option.

It is safe to say, that, without good reason, a huge part of society is still locked away for people with disabilities, which makes me wonder how much money is worth, if there are less options to spend it on (other than necessities). In practice, people with disabilities need to work harder to earn money, but can't even spend it at the local pub. With luck, they can rent a home that suits their needs, but can't go visit their friends because their home isn't accessible. To add salt to injury, they pay taxes, but governments keep slashing budgets on infrastructures and social benefits. They implement ableist laws and regulations…all while wondering “why won't more people with disabilities work?” or worse, they call them lazy.

Honestly, at this point it is hard to believe that society was simply “negligent” for nearly 60 years. So unless accessibility gets the attention it deserves, if you are disabled, consider this: fuck work.

PS. Full disclosure; I was born with a congenital myopathy and a post like this can't even scratch the surface of all the shit I've experienced in my life. Feel free to ask me anything.

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