What is a disability?
When the term disability was first defined, it was labeled as an inability, which had to change because having a disability is so much more than an inability.
Fortunately the definition has changed since then. A new definition issued in 2001 speaks to interactions between people and society. Today when we talk about disabilities and related limitations, we include situational impairments, activity limitations, and restrictions on participation. We encompass mismatches between individuals and their environments, situations, and society as a whole.
Let’s start off with defining the word disability. It’s come a long way since the term disabilities used to be more focused on people’s inability. But the definition has really expanded in today’s world.
Mobility and Physical Impairments – using a wheelchair, using a cane, limping, visible limb deformities, skin and hair disorders.
Head Injuries – Brain Disability – speech, motor coordination, learning disabilities.
Vision Disability – blind, wear glasses, use a white cane, a seeing eye dog.
Hearing Disability – communicate using sign language, wear a visible cochlear implant, hearing aids.
Cognitive or Learning Disabilities – may have behavior problems, difficulty learning to read or write, find learning difficult.
Psychological Disorders – may have depression, anxiety, mood disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders.
Invisible Disabilities – Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Autoimmune Disorders, Chronic Pain
This doesn't mean these are all the disabilities that exist. I do believe that this gives you a general idea of the different types of disabilities.
REAL TALK:
I do fall into at least 2 of these categories, I could add myself into a 3rd category. Everyone knows, I'm deaf (that's one). The second one, people don't really know because I don't talk about it much. I have Usher's Syndrome (it is inherited disease....which I find to be such a weird term because it's NOT CURABLE!)
I will probably create a series around this, as it's still something I don't fully identify with as of yet. But it's noticeable with my family & friends. Usher's Syndrome is something that affects both my hearing and vision. So I fall into the vision disability category. And I am diagnosed with mild depression, but it doesn't affect my day to day life for the most part.
So yeah, that's the fun part about me! HAH! The frustrating part is they are INVISIBLE unless I say something, and even then sometimes I think people don't necessarily believe me. That's their choice though.
When I was looking for icons to represent the different types of disabilities, I wanted something that was a bit more modern and simplistic. I came across these by @visability93 and I thought they were genius! I do feel like they're definitely missing some key disabilities, but this is an amazing start. If you have any of these, do you feel like the visual is something that you relate to?
How many of you know someone with at least one of these disabilities?
How many of you know at least one other person with a disability? I can almost bet that every single one of us knows at least 2-3 people with a disability.
And how many of them strive to live their lives as "NORMAL" as they can?
Defining Normal: conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.
The definition of normal is really tricky because we all have our own normal. My life of normal is going about my day without hearing a single sound if I choose to. I can still do a lot of things that YOU do, I just can't hear as well as you. But my being deaf is NORMAL to me.
What does this mean for us as business owners?
What does this mean for us as business owners? Why am I asking this question as it relates to approaching your business beyond what you know. When we operate our business, there are things that you do based on what YOU know.
My ask is for you to think beyond what YOU know, and who is around you. Look outside your bubble. I know that it is a hard thing to look outside your bubble.
Two years ago, my day to day life when I worked for a corporation was actually SUPER small, despite the company having over 400k employees. I really only had interactions with about 10 people, 30 people at most at this company. I totally thought this was a pretty wide view.
But the moment I stepped into owning my own business...it was like my world EXPLODED. The type of people I'm in connection with now is at least 5x bigger. I'm able to soak in so much more knowledge, experiences, more than I can even handle.
This type of connection is what drives me to do what I do because the moment my TINY bubble of a world popped, I feel like I've stepped into a world where I am working towards making sure my world keeps getting bigger. I'm able to share my experiences with others, and bring in their experiences with me. I've learned so much more, and want YOU to pop your bubble and think beyond what you know right at this moment.
What does this mean for us as content creators?
As I dove into this owning my own business “thing!” It felt crazy but I basically had an online business that was all done virtually, the tools, the content, the people that I discovered was all of a sudden enormous.
I discovered that there was so much content being created every single day, and some of it is good stuff (sorry not all the content is good!). But I simply couldn't access it.
Often times when you're a content creator, you create content in one way. The reason for that is because it's what you know, it's what people are used to consuming from you. You create videos for your audience, and they're used to that.
But when someone like me comes into the picture, it's like Oh, I never thought about that. And the fact is, I totally get it! Why would you have thought about that, you probably haven't met a deaf person before. or person who is color blind. Or someone who's dyslexic.
The reality is if you are a content creator, you should WANT to be able to offer your content in a few different formats. I do recognize that this piece of information is probably going to make you feel like, but I really do not have time to create one piece of content in several different ways.
I'm going to challenge you. I want you to take the ONE content that you do regularly, and try to come up with a different way of presenting it. Let me know what you decide to do!
