The thrid category

Disability bloggers often talk about the stereotypes of people with disabilities. Generally, they talk about two categories. The pitiful person who is "wheelchair-bound" or "suffering from"... or the "supercrip" who does everything "Despite" their disability. (See http://cripwheels.blogspot.com/2008/05/privilege-of-despite.html) I would like to add a third. The image of people with disabilities as entitled people who just want the world to take care of them.

I'm amazed by it when I encounter this attitude. It manifests itself in the idea that there are people hanging out on disability who don't need it. It manifests in the attitude that people with disabilities shouldn't be in the classroom, because they might use up all the teacher's time and the school's resources. It manifests itself in the attitude that people who ask for accommodations, or mere compliance with 17 year old laws, are being demanding and trying to take down businesses.

I'll start with that last one. The ADA isn't new. It's 17 years old and will soon be 18. I have a very hard time believing that a business can't save $100 a year, and now have $1,700 to make a simple ramp so that I can get up the one damn step to get in. But apparently insisting that it is long past time for these modifications makes me "demanding" and "unreasonable". Sorry, but I just don't see it that way. I'm tired of hearing "it's expensive". I'm tired of hearing that "they just don't know what to do to fix it". The first is cured by saving. The second is cured by asking.

I just don't get it. People with disabilities aren't entitled because they want to be treated like other people. We aren't entitled for expecting minor modifications to allow us to be full participating citizens. I just don't get it.