2020 - Indiana DisabIlity Awareness Month

March has come again, which means I would like to take a few minutes of your time to discuss Disability Awareness Month in Indiana. I have a lot of passion for Disability Awareness, as it impacts my family on a daily basis. My long-time readers are aware of this, but those of you new to the blog may not. My wife has Multiple Sclerosis and I am her caregiver. I am proud that my home state has a month they focus on awareness and I want to take a moment to speak on disability awareness.

Indiana Disability Awareness Month Theme Poster

Each March, we celebrate Disability Awareness Month throughout Indiana. On this, the 30th year for this important event, we chose the theme “People, Not Punchlines” to acknowledge an ugly truth: Persons with disabilities are sometimes turned into objects of ridicule. But rather than being the butt of a joke, each individual in our campaign uses humor to open a conversation and highlight ways in which we can all understand each other better.

There are 54 million Americans with disabilities. Adults and children with disabilities represent nearly a fifth of Indiana’s population. There’s nothing funny about the ignorance and naivety that often keep us from connecting with our fellow Hoosiers.

Thanks in advance for your efforts to help raise awareness and understanding of disability issues in Indiana!

#PeopleNotPunchlines

https://www.indianadisabilityawareness.org/

Disability may impact you and your loved ones personally, or it might be something you are only peripherally aware of. I want to encourage and challenge each of you in very specific ways.

  1. Game Designers and Publishers – Please be aware of disabilities as you design and publish your games. Consider things such as color blindness and manual dexterity as you design the components and colors of your games. If your game includes imagery of people, consider representing those with disabilities with someone in a wheelchair, an assistance dog, cane, or other item that visually represents a disability. I realize not every game will be playable or enjoyable for everyone, but just a few minor tweaks like larger fonts, color blind-friendly components, larger components, and representation in games can go a long way to gaining your game and company more fans and customers.
  2. Game Stores and Game Cafes – Please have ramps into your store and keep your aisles wide enough for a wheelchair (or even a stroller for families). I realize you often have smaller spaces with lots of games and miniatures to shelve. Space management is a challenge. But if you want potential customers to browse, shop, and play games in your location, you have to make the space accessible. Narrow aisles, stacks of game boxes, and precarious displays are impossible for people in a wheelchair to traverse.
  3. Conventions – Please consider those with disabilities as you prepare for your convention and set up your venue. Not only fulfill the legal requirements for disability accessibility, but consider ways to make your event accessibility-friendly. Everything from registration, to support services, to housing, to exhibitors, to the venue has a significant impact on all your attendees, but especially those with visible and invisible accessibility challenges.
  4. Personally – Be respectful of those with disabilities, even ones that might not be easily visible upon first glance. I cannot tell you how often we struggle with handicap parking spots being taken by non-accessible tagged vehicles, or full of shopping carts, or full of snow piles. We need those parking spots to be able to safely access our destinations. We are challenged by handicap accessible bathrooms being out of order or too small for a wheelchair. There is also the challenge of people not even seeing my wife in her wheelchair. People try to jump over her feet, bump into the wheelchair when they are not looking, or completely ignoring my wife in her wheelchair and talking over her to me when they are asking questions about her. I ask you to take the time to notice those around you with disabilities and provide them the respect you would like to receive.

As you can see, with just a little effort, you can really include those with disabilities. Please, make the effort to be aware of those around you. From obvious accessibility challenges such as wheelchairs and walkers, to more invisible issues such as chronic fatigue and pain, your efforts and respect can go a long way to making the lives and experiences of others so much better.

Have there been people or organizations that have really made the extra effort toward accessibility awareness? Please thank them personally and perhaps give them a little praise here in the comments for others to hear the story.

Indiana Disability Awareness Month 2020

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