A Barrier-Free and Inclusive Environment—Luxury or Necessity
Essay
A Barrier-Free and Inclusive Environment—Luxury or Necessity
By Yelizaveta Andreevna Romanova.
I was born in Russia in 2003. At the time, the country was still feeling the aftershock fr om the crisis of 1998, and the external and domestic economic situation was bad. The change of power was recent. Chechnya was going through a tough time, and the Caucasus was burning. There was the Kursk submarine catastrophe, and the fire in Ostankino Tower. The same year expected to see a sharp demographic decline and the beginning of the rapid collapse of the old pension system. Amid all of this, my family faced another problem that our young country had not yet had time to pay attention to: disability in kids and its problem in society.
I can't exactly say that it was hard for me as a child. I don't remember anything bad about my childhood. All I remember is my smiling mom and nice doctors who were hoping to get me back on my feet after each operation I had. I also remember them being a little sad after they didn't work. But from what my mom tells me, I know it was hard. There was the usual—getting around the city in a wheelchair, trying to get me onto a high pavement from a pedestrian crossing because there was no ramp; high steps in the hospitals. We couldn't go into a shop or get a wheelchair into an elevator because it didn't fit.
Then there was the most painful part: physically healthy people's attitude toward a kid like me. After all, these adults were not used to seeing people with obvious physical problems outside in the open: there were homes for people with disabilities in the Soviet Union, and they stayed there from a certain period of life until their death. In 1948, the Soviet government and its law enforcement agencies were getting ready to celebrate Stalin's jubilee, so they decided to remove all beggars and people with disabilities from the city streets.
There were hundreds of thousands of them. It all happened overnight: special police outfits visited them, took them to railroad stations, loaded them onto a train, and sent them to boarding homes. They took their IDs away and left them in those boarding homes to live for the rest of their lives. They did the same thing to kids with disabilities whom they deemed to be socially doomed. However, I believe that an assessment like that was not based on anything objective.
So when those homes eventually closed down, people with all kinds of disabilities flooded the streets. Neurotypical, healthy people did not know how to talk with them or what these people were like. Some people with disabilities formed communities; some sought help from charities or local communities, while also facing discrimination.
People had a different reaction to the problem. Some showed compassion and tried to help, offering a job or food. Generally speaking, however, public opinion was shaped by stereotypes, prejudice, ignorance, fear of doing something bad to a person with disabilities, which is why there was rejection. Kids of the 90s and 80s didn't know what to make of their parents' reaction, so all they could do was to have a flight response: “walk away and stay away from people like that”.
I realized it when I heard my classmates wishing me to die on the operating table or saying that a normal person should walk on their own legs, and I was abnormal, because I couldn't. Now I understand perfectly well that the children were just parroting what their parents were saying, the same parents that were kids in the 80s. There was no way they could treat people like me in the right way during that turbulent period. The school administration supported them, so they tried to get me home-schooled.
At first, they would tell my mom that it must be hard for her to take me to school every day, with the wheelchair and all. Then they removed the ramp, saying it was broken, so I got on crutches and started climbing the stairs to school. I was late for some lessons because I had little time to go up the stairs to the second floor, to the next classroom. They ended up giving us an ultimatum: a learning disability school or home-schooling. We chose the second option.
I won't go into great detail, but I will ask you this. Isn't what I described above a major indicator of what once was? It is. It is a lack of a barrier-free environment, which means that significant objects are accessible: from public transportation and buildings to parks and streets. It's a complete rejection of inclusion, which includes psychosocial aspects such as participation in public life, accessible education, level-playing field when it comes to jobs.
As I grew up, I thought it was all a luxury available only to wealthy countries or certain regions. However, when I'm looking at our country now, I think I was wrong: accessibility and inclusion are becoming important factors for sustainable development of society. Many people think that inclusion is unnecessary because it only breeds stupid people, but why do they think that? Probably because our society only wants to see people with disabilities that cannot be around their social circle. What they fail to notice is that it is possible to give a person with disabilities an opportunity to get education and to take an even more difficult step: to find a job and to prove their worth as a person. In modern society, wh ere every person strives to realize their potential, a barrier-free and inclusive environment becomes both a necessity and a manifestation of humanity and social responsibility.
There are a lot of great examples:
Edward Roberts. At the age of 12, after suffering from polio, he found himself with artificial lungs and in a wheelchair. However, Roberts got a university degree and went on to head the World Institute on Disability.
Thomas Edison. He went almost completely deaf at the age of 20. He worked in telegraphy, developed audio devices, invented the incandescent light bulb, and started the film industry.
Ralph Braun. After being diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, he developed revolutionary transportation devices. He fought for the training and employment of people with disabilities in science, technology, construction, and math.
Lee Sang-mook. An accident in 2006 left his entire body below the neck paralyzed. This life experience opened Lee to a “higher purpose” as a scientist and educator. He fought to create assistive technology for science and engineering education while continuing his own research.
Stephen Hawking. After being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at the age of 21, he worked in math and physics for decades. Stephen used a wheelchair, voice synthesizers, and other technology to do research, write, and communicate.
Temple Grandin. A professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University and author of several books, she was one of the first people to publicly share her personal experience with autism. She later got a PhD in Animal Science and dedicated her life to making farming more humane.
Claire Cunningham. A dancer and choreographer from Scotland who has to perform on crutches due to a progressive bone disease called osteoporosis. Her performances challenge normativity and explore the potential of experimental dance techniques.
One of the most famous disabled scientists in Russia was Ivan Anikkin. In 1958, he created the first prosthetic hand, which was a medical breakthrough. This discovery has enabled many people who have lost limbs due to various causes to regain their normal lives. Ivan Anikkin continued his scientific research and made a significant contribution to the development of robotics.
Looking at this small list, we can't help but wonder: why do we only see foreign names? Maybe it is because their country, people around them learned from the mistakes of the past because history shows that they made the same mistakes: Paris's The Hôtel des Invalides, Germany's The Invalid House, etc. Only after going through a similar period, they did not repeat it. They were able to realize that, although a person with disabilities is not able to stand in formation or do something with their own hands, they can still think, study, and create something with the hands of other people if they just explain what they mean and want.
At the end of the day, I believe a barrier-free and inclusive environment is not a luxury but a necessity. If people can learn a little more tolerance and respect, it will lead our country to more development, and can finally result in the following:
Human rights will be fully exercised: Everyone has the right to access services and spaces. A person with disabilities is a human, too, are they not? A barrier-free environment provides equal opportunities not only for people with disabilities, elderly people, mothers, military. It makes their lives more comfortable. According to the World Health Organization, more than one billion people have difficulty accessing various services, which limits their opportunities for self-development and participation in society.
Social responsibility: Creating an inclusive environment is a sign that the society cares for everyone. This promotes unity and reduces bias and discrimination.
Cost-efficacy: Inclusion of people with disabilities can lead to significant economic benefits. They can become active participants in the economy, which contributes to business development and increased revenue. The belief that building a barrier-free environment is just an additional luxury can lead to significant social and economic losses.
Quality of life: Creating an accessible environment improves the quality of life both for people with disabilities and for all members of society. Convenient spaces and services are good for everyone—moms pushing strollers, elderly people, etc.
Social innovation: Developing solutions to create barrier-free environments often leads to innovations and new technologies that can improve the lives of all people.
