Getting #outdoors, connecting with #nature and doing #photography is a vital part of #healing my #body, #mind & #spirit.
Being #disabled for almost 3 years now and going from #crutches, rolling #walker, motorized & standard manual #wheelchairs, a #cane, #walking sticks…I’ve noticed that our world is not completely #accessible to everyone.
Having #accessibility to the outdoors is a fundamental right, and I know too well, having a lifetime of fighting for equal #rights as a #woman of Puerto Rican descent, how it feels to constantly have to deal with #discrimination because of who I am. Being disabled has added to my challenges but it’s also prompted me to help bring awareness to many things including:
-What it means to be a Puerto Rican female disabled #photographer living with a #disability
-How disabled people are too often mistreated, neglected, overlooked
-What is really #accessible and what needs to change.
By creating The Disabled Photographer Project, I hope to shed some light on the constant challenges I personally face. Hopefully by #sharing limitations of things I have #access to, will show that the obstacles placed before me aren’t only because I’m disabled, but also because of #barriers placed on disabled people by #society.
All my life, I’ve always looked on the #positive side of #life, so I’d like to #focus on what we can do to #improve on things as they are in this #moment! In order to make #change, we need to be #aware that there are problems and what the problems are so #solutions can be found.
My #purpose with my “How Accessible Is Accessible” series is to demonstrate what #changes need to be made by sharing how things are, in hopes of bringing #awareness to what can be improved! So with that being said, I’m going to start with #parks because parks provides access to nature, and nature is healing. So how can we make the outdoors more accessible to everyone? These are just some of the things that come to mind:
-Make ALL parks free & accessible to everyone with a disability!
-Create accessible #trails that are paved, flat and not on an incline in every park so that any disabled person, with any kind of disability, whether alone or with a companion, can get around safely.
-Create more fully accessible #restrooms with a button or sensor to automatically open & lock the door, sensors for faucets, toilets, soap/sanitizers, hand dryers or paper towels, restrooms that are big enough for rolling walkers, wheelchairs (Manual & motorized) to fit comfortably enough to easily turn around inside the stall.
-Create more fully accessible #campsites
-Create more fully accessible #picnic areas
-Create more fully accessible #parking lots
#Dream big right?!?
The #good news is more people are paying attention, more people are waking up, more people are openly having #conversations about disabled people, disability rights and terminology being used pertaining to disabled people, which hopefully means more people will begin taking #action to making necessary changes that address #segregation, #discrimination and accessibility. Thank you for reading my #blog. Feel free to #subscribe, #like, #comment, #share
You can show your #support to The Disabled Photographer Project by visiting Paypal & donating to email denisevasquezphotography@gmail.com clicking on the #Donate button below:
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