What really is a disability?

We’re use to thinking that disability is just a problem to be solved, a sickness to be cured, a disease to be eliminated, and that the problem exists with the person living with disability. But I am finding that in almost all cases, a disability is not solely a personal or medical issue, but a societal or socioeconomic one.

Take those who are unhoused, for example: often seen as the person being unable to own or rent shelter. Peers may assume the person is homeless because there is something “wrong” with them, they’d made bad choices in the past, or they lack the intelligence, skills, or economic qualifications to own or rent shelter.

There is a problem, but it’s not with the person. Shelter is one of the most important basic needs, but for some reason, society has made it extremely difficult to lock it down in 2025. I wonder if housing was made affordable and a mailing address wasn’t required to apply for a job, many of the unhoused people would be able to find work and survive on that income?

Here’s another example for those who drive: has your car ever broken down? That’s a handicap. Now, you cannot get to work, or that interview. Now, you’re losing resources. Don’t you think it’s a problem that car issues can create a domino effect? It sounds like a socioeconomic problem.

Some of us permanently can’t drive, but companies have been demanding all workers return to the worksite. That’s interesting, because we seemed to be doing just fine when we were told to work remotely back in 2020. Now, many of use who rely on remote work find ourselves with vastly fewer opportunities / options. But nothing changed with us, it was society that changed…

When we speak of disability, we aren’t disclosing what is “wrong with us”. We are reminding you that society moves in a way that often makes things unnecessarily difficult.

I consider nothing “wrong” or “sick” about myself as it concerns my mobility challenges. What is wrong and sick is society. Here is a list of the real societal sicknesses:

• $2,500 rent for a 1-bedroom apartment
• 45-minute commutes to and from work every day
• Lack of accessible remote work
• Lack of accommodations at work (for example: a quiet, dark place to seek relief from a migraine; inaccessible public bathrooms for wheelchair users; over-reliance on specific types of verbal communication and unwritten social rules and “office politics” that are alienating and confusing for neurodivergent people.)
• Binary ways of thinking (on/off, useful/useless) that poison creative problem-solving
• Old and outdated buildings rife with environmental and health hazards, with sparse code enforcement and absentee landlords
• Limited Section 8 and other affordable subsidized housing
• Dilapidated pathways and sidewalks which are damaging and unsafe for everyone
• Lack of affordable childcare
• Limited sharing of food, transportation, and assets
• Racial inequality in healthcare
• Limited access to affordable healthcare options
• Uber, after 10+ years, still not having handicap tools
• Anti-homeless architecture

The list goes on…do any apply to you?

As a reminder, before you walk up to someone and point to their wheelchair and say “So what’s wrong with you?”, take some time to reflect on how we’ve been taught to think about disability. And businesses: if you claim to lack the economic resources to establish a work environment that leaves space for employees to take sick leave (another objectively ableist term) or maintain a work/life balance, consider the offset in productivity sustaining happy and healthy employees. People living with or without disabilities are happier when moving through life without unnecessary barriers.