Hosting colleagues at inaccessible house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy $hit. As a person myself with a permanent, physical disability that often requires a chair I am not surprised at the complete lack of understanding and awareness of posters on this thread

1) Having celiac disease vs being in a wheelchair is not comparable. We live in an inaccessible world. Does celiac prevent you from entering buildings, finding an available restroom to accommodate your chair, a parking space that allows your chair ramp? I cannot believe someone made that analogy.

2) you NEVER suggest that you can carry someone or lift someone in their wheelchair. NO! I can't even begin to explain all the many ways this is wrong and offensive.

3) Someone in a chair needs access to not only entering the building, but also the bathroom. Did you even think about that?

Disabled people are PEOPLE. Not including this person because they are in a wheelchair is just continuing the exclusion and discrimination we have experienced for centuries. I don't care if it is "too expensive", host the event somewhere else, somewhere that is accessible. You are for inclusion, for diversity, right? Do the right thing (which honestly should be the only option).

NP. OP is having a housewarming party. She can't do that at a different venue.

Then OP needs to own that they are ableist and for chrissakes and acknowledge that if they have a housewarming (just for colleagues? still weird to me) and not try to zoom their disabled colleague in.

[Anonymous]

It's not ablest to want to have a housewarning party!! You've never done that? IMHO she's trying hard to make it inclusive. If the house isn't inclusive she can't significantly change the house! This is ridiculous.

OP, you are a kind and thoughtful person. Invite your colleague, explain the issue, and ask for any ways you can help them attend. It's not their fault they're disabled and it's sure as shit not your fault. Life is not fair sometimes and that's the long and short of it. My kid has to do tons of extra work to accomplish what average kids do without extra work. Should I ask that all children do hours of extra therapy and work just to make the world equal to my son's world? Insanity.

[Anonymous]

Wow, hardly any of the posters on this thread have any real understanding of disabled people and are incredibly ableist in their posts.

Would you say the same thing about a black person, Jewish person, trans person, gay person, all females/males, single people, Chinese people, etc? Because disability is protected the same way under the constitution as gender, sex, religion, country of origin, race and marital status. The same. So imagine having this point of view that you cannot accommodate that one person from work because of x,y, or z (because they're black or they're Jewish, or they're in a wheelchair) but will go ahead, exclude them and invite everyone else who isn't like that one co-worker.

People openly discriminate against the disabled all day every day, consciously or subconsciously. OP obviously had a gut reaction that the optics probably wouldn't be great to invite everyone from work except the person in the wheelchair otherwise why post (unless a troll). So if OP wants to go ahead with showing off their house to their coworkers then OP should contact the disabled coworker, privately, in advance and explain that you want to throw this party and include them but how can they make it work.

I have a disability and sometimes I need to us my wheelchair. I don't leave my house without a plan of trying to find out if my destination is accessible and if it is not how can I pivot. Sometimes I am denied entrance, and sometimes we find an alternative. If the disabled co-worker wants to be lifted in the chair, they will suggest it. Please do not put this person on the spot by suggesting it first as if it is a practical and easy solution (that attitude alone tells me someone has no knowledge of disability etiquette).

And to all posters, maybe it is time you sit and think more about the disabled community and true inclusion. Remember, we are a community that anyone can find themselves a member of at any point in their life, including you.