9. What NOT to Say

I'm going to start this project by prefacing that I am in fact, not someone who is handicapped. I come from a position of privilege, and I don't want to impose my ideas on what handicapped life is like on anyone.

BBC Three has helpfully made a video titled
Things Not To Say To Someone Who Uses A Wheelchair
In the video, wheelchair users voice their annoyance at condescending or overly-intrusive comments they get from people in their lives.
Some key examples of annoying comments shown in the video are:
1. What happened to you?
- It's kind of not everyone's business. They don't need to know.
2. You're so brave
- They're people. Not all of them want to be heroes for existing and living
3. Do you work?
- As opposed to "What do you do?", and people assuming people in wheelchairs can live off government benefits easily
4. How do you have sex?
- Why. Why do people ask this. Why do they need to know?
5. That's awful, I'm so sorry
- But it's not actually that person's fault? Unless it is...? *conspiracy hat*

Working on this project, I really need to pay attention to how I write all the text involved in the game - phrasing things in a respectable manner. Wheelchair users are not defined by their wheelchair, and I must not treat them as such.

References: 
BBC Three (2017). Things Not To Say To Someone Who Uses A Wheelchair. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RLTtk9Mc14 [Accessed 18 Oct. 2018].



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4. Trying out the Implicit Association Test (Part 2)

Image
This blog post is a follow up after having completed the skin-tone Implicit Association Test. Part 1 can be found here . In the final section of the test, the participant is told more about their results, how the test works, and steps taken by the researchers to eliminate order effect bias in the test. The participant can also see how they match up to others who have taken part in the test.  At the end of the day, I wasn't too surprised with my test results. I do think that one of the reasons why I have preference to fairer skin is the fact that I myself have fairer skin. I'm also more familiar with people with fair skin since I grew up among family members who look like me. However, I also recognise that culturally fairer skin is still prized above darker skin in East Asian culture. From a young age, the associations of "fair" with "virtuous", "pure", and "beauty" have been deeply etched into my mind, from advertisi...
Read more

14. Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit (Manual)

Image
Since the whole toolkit is actually multiple files and videos, I'll be narrowing down the focus of this blog post to the toolkit manual, which can be found here.  (the link downloads the file). The document first starts off by explaining why inclusive design is so necessary, and how diversity can be seen as a source for making better designs. Designers often use themselves as the starting point when creating their work, excluding the people who don't understand or relate to. To practice inclusive design, one of the first things to realise is that there is no such thing as a "normal" person. The document also emphasises the importance of inclusive design in lowering the barriers to entry for societal participation for more people.  In the next part, the document defines "inclusive design" as "A design methodology that enables and draws on the full range of human diversity". The most important part of inclusive design is to learn from a range...
Read more