Nothing about us without us

Recently I've come across so many services, information sites etc purporting to help disabled people
and making independent living more accessible. And yet upon examination, they are many geeks who love to use their PR to 'help' us. I should not be cynical - most of them do mean to be helpful but not many have disabled people actually involved in the design. They might have a disabled person who is said to be the driving force but its not clear if they are in touch with other disabled people.

I am so conscious that being a disabled person, a wheelchair user, does not make me a spokesperson for other disabled people.  It does mean that I have first hand experience and my training gave me more insights on finding solutions but thats it.

But not all disabled people work from the social model and many are so used to making do that they do not bother to complain. Take my dentist's surgery for example, it has a ramp for one of its 2 steps but there is still one step. Upon my complaint, I was told that no other disabled person has complained - making me feel like a real trouble maker!