Let& #39;s discuss this after we supply the missing image description: Two photos of a tripartite metal bench with the middle seat missing, ostensibly to allow a wheelchair user to back in there. One shows it with a drawing of a wheelchair user, one without. #UCAccessNow https://twitter.com/CloHiggins/status/1391083611860967426">https://twitter.com/CloHiggin...
We recommend folks go to the replies to that tweet. Wheelchair users are correctly pointing out that this bench is an example of what& #39;s called "hostile architecture" - infrastructure meant to fence the houseless out.
But they& #39;re also pointing out how it isn& #39;t even a very good design for wheelchair users, which indicates that if this was truly designed to be a wheelchair-accessible bench, it was designed by someone who doesn& #39;t use a wheelchair. #UCAccessNow
This is a common phenomenon of systemic ableism. When not actively attacking disabled people & fencing us out of higher education, abled folks are "doing things for" disabled ppl even as they make it harder for us to steer their own destinies. #UCAccessNow
There are lots of different disabilities that benefit from using or need to use a wheelchair to get around. There are different kinds of wheelchair designs. Wheelchair users are the ones best-suited to decide what "wheelchair accessible" is. #UCAccessNow
But there& #39;s the intentional Catch-22 of systemic ableism: how would a wheelchair user get to be in the position to be the shotcaller on public furniture when the university isn& #39;t that accessible to wheelchair users in the first place? #UCAccessNow
UC has lots of public seating areas that assume wheelchair users would never want to sit next to non-wheelchair users. #UCAccessNow
Even when they look pretty like this... it& #39;s not accessible. #SpotTheAccessibilityFail #UCAccessNow
Here& #39;s a new bench being built in the same inaccessible way. Why inaccessible? There needs to be an accessible way for a wheelchair user (or - shock - more than one wheelchair user!) to wheel on either side of this bench. Enough paved space to do so. #UCAccessNow
Every once in a while, the welded-together table & chairs leave a space for a wheelchair user. But notice those ones don& #39;t have shade from the sun. In the Davis heat. #UCAccessNow
When we brought up to an administrator that the welded-together furniture didn& #39;t offer the options disabled ppl need for access, we were told it was "too expensive". Also that "otherwise people will steal the furniture". Yet dept laptops aren& #39;t chained together.... #UCAccessNow
We later found out that administrator had received an award from UC for being an "ally" to disabled people... #UCAccessNow
UC is a public institution. Disabled people are part of the public. We are underrepresented at UC. But even the disabled people who make it in have their taxes, tuitions, & fees used to buy infrastructure that is hostile to us or even hurts us. #UCAccessNow
So hit that quoted tweet & its replies to learn more about public furniture design that& #39;s accessible. And also observe how disabled ppl are once again used as a wedge for abled ppl& #39;s purposes - in this case harassing houseless ppl (many of whom are disabled). #UCAccessNow
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