See me, for me not my wheels

Amanda Halvorsen
The concept ‘See me for me, not my wheels’ confronts pre-existing judgments often made by some people against people with disability. It aims to promote better understanding of the individuality of people with disability, rather than their disability defining who they are.

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This causes people to pause and actually think about how they perceive people with disability. We tend to see someone in a wheelchair, for example, and allow their disability to colour our perception of them as a person. It is presented in a way that creates empathy instead of avoidance of difference.

Through research I have discovered there have been posters around saying 
things like “is you inability to see my ability, your disability”, “dont dis our ability”. These campaigns tend to not sway viewers perceptions and beliefs towards people with disabilities.

Donna-Rose McKay brought to my attention that the Like Minds programme had managed to make great inroads in the mental health area. There is a cartoon on there – “Part 1. Shows an older man in a wheelchair with his back to the reader. Caption : Those who did not know him called him a cripple (it an old 
cartoon with non pc language.) Part 2. Shows the older man in a wheelchair facing to the reader. He is clearly Teddy Roosevelt. Caption: Those who know him called him Mr President.”

I wanted an image that showed that, like every one, people with disabilities are individuals, rather than show that they are defined by their disability, hence the line art wheelchair conveying it is not the defining factor.

Everyone does things defferently, has a range of things they can and cannot do, or are good at. ”The ways we do things may include
a wider and more diverse continuum but the start and end points are the same, how we achieve/get there is often different.” – Donna-Rose McKay

I have an aversion to how people are coloured by their past experiences and the way society shapes our perceptions of people who have impairments.