Published: July 4, 2019
Friends’ meetings could do much more to support acceptance of and accommodation for people with disabilities. This is a Quaker issue that is ignored too often. Many Quakers and Meetings seem to practice Moral Self-Licensing – assuming they have already “done enough” good – and then refuse to do more, even when more is desperately needed.
Hearing loss seems to be the hardest to understand, hardest to accommodate, and has the most Moral Self-Licensing associated with it. Hearing loss, vision loss, and mobility loss are the three biggest disabilities. Of people over 45, 95% have one or more of these disabilities, with hearing loss being very common. However, because of peoples’ attitudes and Moral Self-Licensing, so very many are afraid to admit it having hearing loss.
To make it worse, hearing aids are simply that, aids to making ALL sounds LOUDER, when what a person really needs is CLEARER sounds. This is especially problematic when there is background noise and even more when there is human background noise.
Most people, including most Quakers, are extremely ignorant about the top three disabilities.
I hope more Friends will publish articles in Western Friend that will help raise disability awareness among friends. Such articles could help a lot of people.
from Debra Hubbard, Multnomah Monthly Meeting (5/25/2019)