If your event promotes inclusivity and diversity, but your event is not accessible, then you are not being inclusive. While it sounds obvious, unfortunately accessibility is incredibly overlooked, or accessibility matters are handled by able-bodied people. With a disabled person at the helm of accessibility issues, you will find solutions that not only accommodate disabled people, but able-bodied people as well! If you build a ramp to the front door of a restaurant, you are insuring there is complete and total access. When accessibility is completely disability led, success follows.

My name is Hannah, and I was born with several rare birth defects. One of those resulted in the amputation of my leg, thus causing my need for a wheelchair. Over the course of my life, I have used medical strollers, crutches, and wheelchairs. In my personal experience, 80% of places that I visit are not fully accessible, even though they may have stated they were. Yes, there was a ramp to the door, but the door was not wide enough for my chair. There was a ramp, but it was too steep, or at the door itself there was a small step to get in. “There is an accessible entrance!” a website would say, only for the entrance to be next to the garbage disposal. These are all examples of basic accessibility, to fit ADA standards. However, it’s not acceptable.

Throughout my life, there were many events I would go to that promised to be accessible, but they were not. Concerts, where I would be put off to the side in my wheelchair, where I could not see the stage. Festivals that were held in muddy fields, where wheelchairs cannot traverse. While not outlined directly in accessibility guidelines, these things matter. This is where having multiple disabled people working with an event or a company on their accessibility come in. Wheelchair users can go to walk throughs ahead of time with their able-bodied counterparts to give feedback on if the ground is able to be easily rolled through! They can give feedback on if it’s too steep or rough. They can give feedback on if the accessible bathrooms are easy to get to and big enough for different chair types. Deaf and hearing-impaired people can sit down with their hearing counterparts and discuss captioning needs, ASL interpreters, and more. When disabled people are included in the planning of events, concerts, festivals, even potlucks, it becomes accessible for EVERYONE. Nobody left behind, and nobody left out. Just everyone invited to the table to have fun.

If you are hearing, you do not know what accessibility a deaf person needs. If you can walk, you do not know what accessibility a wheelchair user need. If you can see, you do not know what a blind person needs and so on and so forth. Disability led accessibility is one of the most important features about accessibility. Disabled people have been left out and not thought of for years, and that includes Pride events. It’s time to make that change, and I’m so thankful to Knox Pride for making that effort and creating a disability and accessibility division, run by disabled people of all types, to ensure we do better.

So, what does true accessibility look like? True accessibility involves not just physical accessibility, but navigational, auditory, and digital as well. For social media, it comes in the form of alt text for screen readers, graphics with readable colors and large, easy to read text. At events, its making sure doorways are wide enough, there are many accessible bathrooms that ARE big enough for motorized wheelchairs, ramps to the venue being at the correct angle, and that surfaces will work with different mobility aids. It’s even adding in to event info how much accessible parking there is. It’s changing the language, replacing outdated terms such as cripple and handicap, with accessible. Listening to disabled people and involving them is what true accessibility is. Disabled is not a dirty word! While yes, we are still people and our disabilities don’t define us, our disabilities are still tied to us. We don’t get to turn off that part of us, it comes with us. And sometimes? Our disabilities are disabling. That’s okay too. We are still worthy and whole.

If you’re wondering how you can make changes, how you can make your day to day life more accessible, here’s a few tips.

1. Change your language! Instead of handicap parking, accessible parking. Instead of handicap bathroom, accessible bathroom. Changing outdated language, that has negative connotations, is a wonderful way to start. Avoid ableist language, such as the r word (r*tard), spazz, psycho, differently abled, cripple, handicap, etc.

2. Stop using inspiration porn. Inspiration porn is the objectification of disabled people as inspirations to able bodied people based on their life circumstances. We are not inspiring for continuing to exist. Disabled people doing anything, is them existing just as you are.

3. Start using alt text, and video description! Learn how to caption your videos and TikToks.

4. Listen to more disabled creators. Follow disabled authors, musicians, actors, etc. Familiarize yourself with disabilities and unlearn societal biases.

5. Mask when you can, especially when sick. Respiratory illnesses can be deadly for disabled people, as most of us have compromised immune systems. By masking, you reduce transmissions of viruses and make it safer for us to be in public. If you can’t mask, take other precautions such as staying home when you’re sick, testing for respiratory illness after being in large crowds, and wash your hands OFTEN. It takes a village to protect disabled people!

6. Do the research on if something is accessible if you are going to invite your disabled friends somewhere. Ask them what accessibility needs you need to watch for. Do the work for them, and include them. Ask about dietary restrictions, or allergens. Be inclusive.

7. VOTE. Be aware of the stances politicians have against accessibility and disability issues. Learn about bills and policies that either aid disabled folks, or hinder them, and vote to protect disabled people.

Disability and accessibility have a very long way to go. There are more protections needed for disabled people, as well as lower cost medication and mobility aids. However, it can all start on a small scale. Let disabled people run accessibility matters. Include the disabled people in your life and ask them how you can accommodate them. I should not be shut out from the fun of events simply because of the way I was born, or the circumstances life threw at me. I am still just as deserving of going out and having as much fun as my able-bodied counterparts. Without disabled people, and without accessibility, you are not inclusive. 1 in 4 adults in the United States have a disability. Let’s focus on doing the work and making the world accessible and enjoyable for all. THAT is true inclusion.