When disability and ableism are discussed, inevitably the terms “accommodation” and “accessibility” come up. But what do these terms mean and what do they look like in the day to day lives of disabled people?
Accessibility has to do with how accessible something intended for the public is to someone with a disability. A building is not accessible if there are no wheelchair ramps where there are entrance stairs or elevators where there are multiple floors. A website in not accessible if the colors the website uses make it so someone who is colorblind, cannot see the content on the website. A video, film, or television show is not accessible if there are no closed captions for those who are deaf, harding of hearing, or have speech-processing difficulties.
Abled people typically have very little ability to see when things are or aren’t accessible. Sometimes, accessibility measures have been taken, but they don’t actually work when disabled people attempt to use the accessibility measures. A wheelchair ramp can be too steep for a wheelchair user to use independently, closed captioning can be incorrect, an elevator can be almost constantly out of order, the braille on a sign maybe misspelled or not raised enough if at all, etc.
When abled people are working to make accessibility measures, they should consult people with the disabilities that they are trying to provide access for. Otherwise, an abled person might mistakenly make an accessibility measure unusable.
Accommodations have to do with an environment specific to a disabled individual, who needs specific changes to their environment to put them on equal footing with the abled individuals who share that environment with them. This typically has to do with workspaces, or schools. For example, someone with diabetes might need to be able to take frequent snack breaks in order to keep up their blood sugar. Someone who is blind might need a special computer program that reads out the content on their computer screen.
When a disabled individual makes a request for accommodations, abled people shouldn’t be questioning if they really need it or why can’t they, an abled person, get the same “special treatment.” Accommodations are not disabled people being treated better or having an advantage over abled people, accommodations are compensating for a disadvantage that the disabled individual would experience without the accommodation.