Skip to Content Skip to Mainnavigation Skip to Meta Navigation Skip to Footer
Skip to Content Skip to Mainnavigation Skip to Meta Navigation Skip to Footer

10 Pragmatic Ways to Overcome Disability Barriers

Despite how rough the going gets, you should never entertain the idea of quitting. There’s about a handful of widely recognized disability barriers, but the first step to overcoming them is acceptance.

© unsplash

(unsplash)

Persons with disabilities  often struggle with many challenges that may make them feel like giving up on life. However, having a disability should not be a cause for despair. No matter how tough the going gets, it would help if you never entertained the idea of quitting. There are many recognized disability barriers, but acceptance is the first step to overcoming them. 

Furthermore, even people without disabilities  undergo trying circumstances. The truth is, in one way or another, nobody has it easy.  

We are all brought to earth to serve a purpose in contributing to the grand scheme of things. As such, we are the captains of our destiny and can do whatever we set our minds to do.  

With that said, as a person with a disability, you cannot let the barriers around you limit your life. It is best to stay positive and find a way around the obstacles, if not over them.  Moreover, as a non-disabled person, you can help make the world a better place for others.  

Here are ten practical ways for a person with disability  to overcome disability barriers:  

  • 1

    Be polite and remain calm around obnoxious people

    When someone provokes you through jokes, observe your dignity by avoiding confrontation. Instead of mocking a sarcastic comment, words suffice in ruining the heckler’s moment of fame. Taking control and being funnier than your heckler, especially in public, helps boost your confidence and self-esteem. 

  • 2

    Accept your disability

    For most individuals, this proves to be the most difficult and dispiriting. Individuals are compelled to come to terms with their condition and work to find new ways to enjoy life with their disability. If treatment and therapy can improve your condition, you are encouraged to take the opportunity and push yourself to a better life. Healing requires you to accept yourself without stigmatising yourself. 

  • 3

    Give your best

    It is better to focus on the easy wins and on being better, rather than constantly obsessing over your failures or challenges. You have to make peace because your disability will not hold you back from being the best version of yourself. Never judge your progress by other people’s standards, but rather focus on ways you can improve your performance. 

  • 4

    Grieve and accept all the five stages of grief due to disability

    It is highly recommended to pursue guidance from counsellors, therapists, close confidants, and close family members. When dealing with family and friends, gauge who are genuinely supportive. It is advisable to not project emotional outbursts, especially to individuals who genuinely care about you. Therapy helps to navigate emotions and repressed feelings to help improve mental health

  • 5

    Avoid comparisons and celebrate your accomplishments

    The first is to set your goals and ways to achieve them. In most cases, we wish to attain success as fast as others appear to; it is essential to appreciate growth through every stage of life and celebrate every successful move. For instance, a basketball player who misses most of the basketball season due to injury has reason to celebrate an opportunity to play in the second-last game, despite everyone else getting to play the entire season. We all have our own journeys and should set our goals in accordance with own unique frame of reference

  • 6

    Increase Persons With Disabilities  representation in politics

    Try and think of any government official at the local or national level with a disability. The elephant in the room is whether society is promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities in politics. The United Disabled Persons of Kenya (UDPK) researched the barriers present for people with disabilities in the polling station during elections. Findings from the  concluded  individuals with disabilities experience attitudinal, architectural, and technological hindrances when voting. Some of the common issues raised include physical barriers, eg lack of ramps,   the absence of Sign Language interprets or braille signs for the visually impaired, and narrow doorways, making voting equipment inaccessible. Leaders from the disability community will champion their rights and help facilitate inclusivity and eliminate barriers facing people with disabilities.

  • 7

    Incorporate disability etiquette  in the school curriculum

    Learners with disabilities find it hard to accept and own their condition since there no inclusion taught about persons  with disabilities. Why is disability etiquette lesson  not included in the general education curriculum? For inclusion to be achieved, disability etiquette  should be introduced to the school system. Learning about how to communicate with other  people with different predicaments helps to motivate individuals with disabilities to pursue their dreams relentlessly.

  • 8

    Recruit more actors with disabilities in mainstream media

    More actors with disabilities need to be cast for roles with disabilities to promote inclusion and equal representation. Unless a director wants to showcase the life before disability, the case should be a person with disability  instead of a person without disability. Is it even possible for an actor without a disability  to better play a character with a disability than a person with a disability? Our media needs to embrace disability as a human condition and stop treating it like an imperfection.

  • 9

    Make air travel universally accessible for Persons With Disabilities 

    Individuals with disabilities lead active lives engaging in businesses and careers in various sectors. We’ve heard numerous cases of people with disabilities having to endure humiliating experiences to access washroom facilities. Asking travellers the nature of their  needs will help determine the best method to use. Companies should consider developing accessible restrooms on planes to cater to persons  with disabilities to improve air travel.

  • 10

    Acknowledge that persons  with disabilities are human too

    When we observe a different person, we tend to forget they are human too with feelings and perception. We often come across people who tend to forget individuals with disabilities are with dreams, hopes, desires, and talents like any other person without disability. It is amusing how we choose to view a person from one angle and forget they are human due to their appearance.


Is this article worth reading

Report an error? Report now.

Find answers to all your questions in our Community