#thefutureisaccessible

#TheFutureIsAccessible face masks are now available in my TeePublic shop! The whole shop is on sale right now 35% off! ⁣ "The Future is Accessible" face masks in Annie Elainey's TeePublic Shop ⁣ [Image Description: a selfie of Annie with long black wavy hair wearing a black face mask with white all cap text that reads, “The Future is Accessible”]

It's the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act; that was hard fought for by disabled activists. #ADA30 ♿✊⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ #TheFutureIsAccessible #DisabilityPrideMonth⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ In the same way you can love and criticize something at once, you can honor/celebrate something and criticize its faults at once as well.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ It has been 30 YEARS but we have yet to see disability access as a true norm, as a social and structural priority, as an innate part of the collective consciousness. It is still more often than not, an afterthought.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ I am grateful for curb cuts, electric doors, ramps, elevators, captions, and audio descriptions.⁣⁣⁣⁣ I am grateful for inclusive spaces and events that offer accessible and diverse ways of participating.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ And yet there is so much to be done.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ And yet disability access still needs to be gained on social levels and throughout the internet (a vital place for socialization, information, education, and entertainment).⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ And yet accessibility can still be denied due to people with implicit biases and their power to do so.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ And yet our accessibility needs get called burdensome and taken away with good intentions for the masses (environmental, public health, etc) but erasure, dismissal, and active harm & endangerment of the community that needs them.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ And yet work place and educational accessibility has been constantly denied... though during the pandemic it was granted to everyone.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ Today I honor disabled activists.⁣⁣⁣⁣ Today I mourn disabled lives lost.⁣⁣⁣⁣ Today I sit with immense gratitude, pride, drive, determination, and motivation to do my part in this mission toward justice and equality.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ We are currently in the process of creating what the future looks like and #TheFutureIsAccessible ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ #ADA30 #DisabilityPrideMonth⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ [Image Description: Annie sits in their #WhillModelCi in their sunny green backyard with long black wavy hair and sunglasses, and a red halter with white text that reads, "The Future Is Accessible"] https://www.instagram.com/p/CDHmXP5jGif/?igshid=1gca65iubkii0

#Repost @casadaptada • • • • • • #Repost @pride • • • • • • Pride is for all of us. It must be accessible. 🏳️‍🌈 ⠀ 📷 by @annieelainey. Rainbow skirt by @modcloth. ⠀ Image Description: Annie Segarra, creator of #TheFutureIsAccessible, sits in her wheelchair wearing a rainbow skirt, a navy blue shirt, and sunglasses. She's pictured outside in front of a door with a step leading up to it. Text on the door reads, "MAKE PRIDE ACCESSIBLE." ⠀ #pride #lgbtq #lgbt #lgbtqia #queer #disabled #queeranddisabled #queerwomen #lesbians #queerwomenofcolor #lesbianpride #prideparade #makeprideaccessible #globalgaygirlgang #loveislove #lovewins #inclusion #inclusionmatters #gayanddisabled #sapphicpride #girlswhokissgirls #girlswhodategirls #lovewins🌈 #loveislove🌈 #lgbtq🌈 #pride🌈 https://www.instagram.com/p/CCAUO0epJNx/?igshid=1up0gaboudcxl

I've been thinking about the pressure to perform disability and the prejudice that forces us to do it.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ My body (not my conscious mind, but my BODY) gets so anxious before any medical appointment; because of this nauseating, heart pounding feeling AND because medical appointments are so expensive, I avoid them now as much as I can. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I just deal with all my symptoms untreated and survive each day one day at a time because healthcare is just obstacle after obstacle.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ But the very first obstacle is doctors believing your pain and fluid symptoms in the first place. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ If I make it into a medical appointment, I'm stable enough to get myself there, this means the doctor does not get to see me at my worst... no one ever does tbh.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ When I get ready for a doctor's appointment I struggle with how put together I should look; I think, "If my hair is neat, my make up is done, and I wear something loud and colorful, they might not be inclined to help me because of the prejudice that I don't "look" sick. But if I go to my appointment in my pajamas and messy... I might face the prejudice of "not trying hard enough to get better"⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Knowing that doctors have these prejudices and having experienced them makes it so hard for me to even get out the door. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Performing disability in a way that adheres to the prejudice of others often feels necessary in order to be taken seriously. I go back and forth, and often land somewhere that feels in the middle, I am not wearing my pajamas but I'm not wearing anything too loud either. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I can't wait for the day that general ableist ideas about disability are diluted and instead people understood that disability can look and behave so many different ways. Being fashionable and confident does not negate disability; I'm so tired of the anxiety and feeling like I have to water down my style and personality just for my medical and access needs. Water down ableism instead! #HospitalGlam #TheFutureIsAccessible⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ [Image Description: Annie wearing a colorful face mask, blue jeans, white shirt, and army green jacket in a hospital examination room]⁣ (at Miami, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9rf8T_gr2i/?igshid=13wsr6px2a9ci

I keep seeing this really ableist "don't take the escalator, take the stairs" analogy implying that the escalator is easier and more comfortable, the "lazy" way. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ Upon reading that 1st sentence I'm sure many of you can predict what I'm about to say; how escalators and elevators are an accessibility need for disabled people. And some of the same people predicting my point will also preemptively comment "that analogy is not in reference to you!" ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ Disabled people being considered before making a general statement? How careless of me to forget how little we are considered. /s⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ However, even though it's not intentionally referencing disabled people, it still IMPACTS disabled people. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ The ableist idea that being lazy, and the visible symbols of being lazy (like using the escalator) depicted.as a horrifying trait for a person to have, impacts the disabled people who need to use those visual symbols of laziness... for their access needs.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ People keep using the visual analogy of an escalator being of less merit then the staircase and subsequently people carry these visuals with them in their daily life and continue to perceive accessibility as a luxury, as something that is unnecessary, and "lazy" instead of what it really is, which is a human right.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ It makes it harder for people to take accessibility seriously, to understand it's necessity, it reinforces the systems that currently exist to discriminate and segregate disabled people, it makes it easy for that system to go unquestioned. #TheFutureIsAccessible⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ [Image Description: Annie with long wavy hair and a leopard print button-up shirt, black pants and socks, sits on the second step of a staircase.] https://www.instagram.com/p/B9nCOI6gguX/?igshid=q3c91sg7ald0

Coming at you on #InternationalWheelchairDay to remind you that: ⁣ -#AmbulatoryWheelchairUsersExist -Wheelchairs are liberating not limiting⁣ -Inaccessibility is limiting, exclusionary, ableist, and unsafe and #TheFutureIsACCESSIBLE⁣ -We need to also work on making wheelchairs (and accessible vans, etc) economically accessible for those that need them!⁣ ⁣ I am beyond grateful to @whill_us and @scootaround for allowing me to borrow their #WhillModelCi while my personal wheelchair gets repaired. ⁣ ⁣ Don't take the privilege and freedom of mobility for granted, and work to be apart of creating the accessible future we know is possible!⁣ ⁣ [Image Description: in front of a gold sparkly edited in background, Annie sits in her Whill Model Ci powerchair with hands to her chest, eyes closed, and smiling] https://www.instagram.com/p/B9NpFG_g9xL/?igshid=1vxdjomlt2rne

For a long time I was rather ignorant to the levels of vilification disabled people face when advocating for their equal rights. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Accessibility is often seen as either an inconvenience to implement or a luxury for abled people to abuse, when the truth is: accessibility is equity and a basic human right.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Inaccessibility allows for a silent segregation to occur, and due to it's silence and the low demand for rectification, it goes unquestioned and unopposed by the masses.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I assumed inaccessibility was merely due to ignorance, that one could simply alert an organizer about inaccessibility and it would be changed. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I quickly got burned out after repeatedly doing just that; requesting access, and seeing that that wasn't the case.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ These spaces would knowingly and actively exclude people like me from them without batting an eye and without any consequences. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ In fact, the opposite, it was and is disabled people and their allies that face backlash and being blacklisted from events and job opportunities for speaking up, being called "entitled" and ”hard to work with” in the process.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ People would call the work towards accessibility, "a movement against business owners", because that's where the system has us, antagonizing the oppressed, while privileged people in power eternaly avoid accountability for their actions.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ We have to show up for disabled people, we have to show them the numbers, we have to show our economic support to spaces that prioritize accessibility and confront those who refuse to integrate disabled people into their spaces. They are part of our communities and have the right to be here!⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Abled people are often used to not seeing disabled people around, so we have to be as visible and vocal as we can; online (social media/yelp), in front of their spaces, inside of them when we can, on the phone with them, wherever however, they must know that accessibility is a requirement and not an afterthought.⁣ ⁣⁣ #TheFutureIsAccessible⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ [Image Description: in a dimly lit bar, Annie sits in their wheelchair, the back of the wheelchair has rainbow LED lights framing a piece of fabric that reads, "The Future Is Accessible] (at Gramps) https://www.instagram.com/p/B8WfUZ2gNji/?igshid=qx2nh98ye6jj