Exclusion

Practicing pride in the face of exclusion

Stella Young, ABC Radio “Ramp Up” - March 24, 2014

This is another brilliant and emotionally resonant article by Stella Young, a radio journalist at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She describes the dual pain of exclusion caused by inaccessible places. We are robbed of the experience that is inaccessible, and at the same time, we are placed in a no-win situation where one way or another, a social wedge will be driven once again between ourselves and our non-disabled friends. She also underscores how failing to consider accessibility is much more than just an oversight, more than a minor detail. In the most practical sense, that little bit of thoughtlessness produce a literal exclusion. That it is unintended makes no difference. That is a key to understanding ableism.