{"id":6787,"title":"SOCiAL OR MEDiCAL?","description":"I have been updating my site shop recently across social media, namely Facebook and Instagram and I was most disheartened (not to mention intensely irritated!) to find that 5 of the products I wanted to add weren\u2019t approved. The reason? All said products apparently \u2018breached\u2019 one of their policy,","content":"

I have been updating my site shop recently across social media, namely Facebook and Instagram and I was most disheartened (not to mention somewhat irritated!) to find that 5 of the products I wanted to add weren\u2019t approved. The reason? All said products apparently \u2018breached\u2019 one of their policies, namely the \u2018Medical & Healthcare\u2019 policy.<\/p>

When I say I was somewhat irritated, that is an understatement- I was absolutely livid!\"\"



<\/p>

Fortunately, I was given the chance to review their decision, so I did. I told them in no uncertain terms that my products were simply fun T-shirt designs for wheelchair users like myself and bore no relation to \u2018medical OR healthcare\u2019 items whatsoever. \ud83d\ude20<\/p>

Thankfully, whatever board or persons it is that reviews these things looked again at my products, clearly agreed with my reasoning and the products were dutifully approved and added to my store.<\/p>

\"\"
<\/p>

Whilst I\u2019m happy that the problem was resolved pretty swiftly, it does, frustratingly, lead me to raise the question: how do YOU see disability? I ask this because the main issue this episode highlighted to me was most people\u2019s attitude to disability:- the minute that they are presented with a wheelchair they automatically -by default it seems- see a medical problem, as opposed to simply a different method of getting around.<\/p>

There are\u00a0reportedly 13.9 million disabled<\/strong>\u00a0people in the UK, this figure will include a multitude of disabilities -including wheelchair users- and is by no means a small number (roughly 18%), yet Joe Public still regards disabled people as a minute minority and often neither knows nor cares about the varying differences and individual circumstances, they simply dismiss and assume all disabilities are medical problems to be fixed.<\/p>

From a disabled person\u2019s point of view this is incredibly prejudiced. To assume that someone is a \u2018problem\u2019 with no other basis to form this judgment on other than solely because they are different\/get around differently to you is incredibly ableist!<\/p>

**The social model of disability<\/strong> proposes that what makes someone disabled<\/strong> is not their medical condition, but the attitudes and structures of society. It is a civil rights approach to disability<\/strong>. ... The social model of disability<\/strong> says that it is society which disables impaired people.**<\/p>

This I wholeheartedly agree with - in my own home I am not disabled at all: I have an adapted kitchen, a wet room, ramps, a stairlift and all manner of grab rails that mean there is no area in my house I cannot reach or access. So tell me, if you could see me scooting around my kitchen preparing a chilli con carne or lasagne with all the finesse of Nigella Lawson [insert other celebrity chef of choice!] albeit on wheels, would you still<\/em> discard me as disabled?<\/p>

\"\"It is only when I leave<\/em> my home that I encounter problems (kerbs, steps, narrow doorways etc) and it is saddening and insulting to be dismissed as a \u2018medical problem\u2019 simple because i move with wheels. There are many things that I have always been good at and still<\/u> am, getting around on wheels has had no bearing on that at all!<\/p>

So please bear this in mind the next time you see a wheelchair user -or any disabled person- before you sympathetically smile and pity their condition. They may well be an accomplished artist, lawyer, CEO of a company or any other successful profession you care to think of!<\/p>

\"\"


<\/p>





<\/p>





<\/p>","urlTitle":"so-ci-al-or-me-di-cal","url":"\/blog\/so-ci-al-or-me-di-cal\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/so-ci-al-or-me-di-cal\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/backchat.teemill.com\/blog\/so-ci-al-or-me-di-cal\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1597421501,"updatedAt":1606844676,"publishedAt":1606844676,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":88527,"name":"Backchat"},"tags":[{"id":795,"code":"wheelchair","name":"Wheelchair","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/wheelchair\/"},{"id":796,"code":"disability","name":"Disability","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/disability\/"},{"id":798,"code":"tshirts","name":"Tshirts","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/tshirts\/"}],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/evv0ikv116eb9g1gtiy9emnmzypyxnqciln2w7n4jyputynn.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/evv0ikv116eb9g1gtiy9emnmzypyxnqciln2w7n4jyputynn.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/evv0ikv116eb9g1gtiy9emnmzypyxnqciln2w7n4jyputynn.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":null,"metaDescription":null,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":7022,"title":"#FindYourSmile!","url":"\/blog\/s-mi-le\/","urlTitle":"s-mi-le","division":88527,"description":"I\u2019m all about making people smile and that\u2019s what our new collection is all about; now that face masks are compulsory in public places (and therefore hiding your smile) you can wear your smile on your chest knowing you\u2019re simultaneously donating to the charity for mental health!","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/k9WvyfxTuOwv2VKPPXYFcS1eIkXJ6Bxbb1QVRZVe9cch8N8d.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/k9WvyfxTuOwv2VKPPXYFcS1eIkXJ6Bxbb1QVRZVe9cch8N8d.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":7421,"title":"NOT ENOUGH SPOONS!","url":"\/blog\/not-enough-spoons\/","urlTitle":"not-enough-spoons","division":88527,"description":"Crikey, I\u2019ve not posted for a few days, eek!\nCharlie -my youngest, is about to go off to Uni at the end of this week \ud83e\udd2d so life is a bit hectic right now with the preparations and all that entails...","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/eNWTIela8qekJuTGtG8gvS8iqigA6V1rgUu0r2fEBhw8R5h0.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/eNWTIela8qekJuTGtG8gvS8iqigA6V1rgUu0r2fEBhw8R5h0.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":7458,"title":"ENERGY BOOST ANYONE?","url":"\/blog\/energy-boost\/","urlTitle":"energy-boost","division":88527,"description":"One of the most frustrating things about living with Progressive Multiple Sclerosis is just how much you have to micro-manage your day. Before MS, I didn\u2019t give my daily plan a second thought, hell I didn\u2019t even HAVE a plan! I just got up, decided what I wanted to do and cracked on- for example..","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/nfPiz2m2g7NZ0mtwnrtMQGwuyDF1n2LqspbmvvK3XpQwH9qb.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/nfPiz2m2g7NZ0mtwnrtMQGwuyDF1n2LqspbmvvK3XpQwH9qb.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0}],"labels":[]}