It makes me sad how little most people learned from the pandemic...

Restrictions to in person contact gave everyone a small taste of what it is like to live with a disability. Not nearly the full experience, but enough to get sufficiently creative to convert almost every activity to an online version, allowing disabled people to get jobs and join fun activities that were previously unavailable to us.

But then the vaccine came out, abled people (falsely) considered themselves invulnerable again and decided to go back to "normal", meaning cancelling all new opportunities for disabled to participate in society and go back to complaining that we don't participate.

I totally understand that abled people wanted to reintroduce in person activities, but there was no need to cancel online opportunities. The pandemic gave us all the tools to create a hybrid system, yet technology for inclusivity was abandoned when the majority didn't feel the need for it anymore.

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AmbivalentFriability · 26-30

It is messed up that society's acceptable standards of living only consider a specific demographic. If you don't fit the criteria, your quality of life and ability to survive aren't relevant issues.

NerdyPotato · M

@AmbivalentFriability yep! The disability community has been saying a lot of people could contribute much more if they could work from home, but were always told that was impossible. Yet when the pandemic broke out, all kinds of solutions to make that possible came out within a few days. It never was impossible, there was just a lack of willingness. And I truly don't understand why a lot of companies removed that option again.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

For a few blessed months I thought we had a real opportunity to rebuild society on more compassionate and rational terms. But the imperative to "get back to normal" means that many of the opportunities of that very costly and disruptive emergency have been missed.

NerdyPotato · M

@SunshineGirl absolutely! Of course, overall it was really bad, but some details were pretty cool. Not having someone breathe in your neck while standing in line? Loved it! Why didn't we keep an unwritten two feet rule? 🤷

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@NerdyPotato Personally speaking I do (partly influenced by some family members who are on the autism spectrum). I wish people would just be more aware and considerate of others. If I catch a cold or flu at work it can lay me out for weeks . . yet some people have decided it is ok again to come to work with a virus 🤷‍♀️

NerdyPotato · M

@SunshineGirl yeah, I still try to keep a little distance to the person before me too, but if the person behind me doesn't, there's little I can do.

I'm vulnerable to disease too and never understood the argument that Covid was "just the flu" and therefore no measures were needed. Why are you intentionally spreading the flu?

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