Not equal, fair

So, I've recently (and not so recently) encountered the concept that people with disabilities want things equal, so they have to be willing to put up with issues just like everyone else. It caught my attention in a comment on an article about wheelchairs, buses, and baby carriages (prams) on buses in England (an on-going hot issue over there right now judging from the number of articles). The comment wasn't the first time I have encountered this issue though.

The truth is that I don't want equal treatment. Equal treatment could very well mean that someone decides that this one setup works for everyone and since it is provided equally, that should be good enough. Equality only works here if everyone's needs and abilities are taken into the same level of consideration when designing a system. To go back to the bus issue (and out of the vagueness of my mind) if the buses were designed with equal thought given to people who use wheelchairs then there would likely be more than one space that could be used for a wheelchair. Instead, there was only one, and a Mother refused to move her baby chair out of it. So little thought was given to the needs of people with disabilities (heaven forbid we want to travel together), or to the needs of people with babies in strollers. So, yes, I guess I want equal treatment, but I want it long before I run into an issue. By the time there is an issue, it's almost too late for "equal" treatment, because the world isn't setup to acknowledge me equally.

What I really want by the time a problem happens is fairness. Acknowledgment of the fact that the world hasn't been designed with equal consideration. And acknowledgment that because of that, I start out at a disadvantage. Not because of anything wrong with me, but because of other people not thinking about disability. In the bus situation, I want people to think about the impact of their taking those spaces for something other than their intended purpose, and maybe even think about why they exist in the first place. Then I want them to realize that the only fair thing to happen is for that space to go to someone who does not have the options that they have.

It isn't about equality, and sadly, it won't be for a long time, it won't be until my needs are considered as important as everyone else's . It's about fairness.