Full English Speech

Imagine if you could not see the face of your loved ones, imagine if you could not hear their
voice. Now imagine that everywhere you went, people expected you to just live through life
like normal. That is reality for deaf and blind people, how anxiety inducing is that? The least
we could do is make the world more accessible to them to reduce this anxiety and stress.
Relying on things that are not fool proof, relying on listening when you cannot see the roads
you are crossing, relying on people or pieces of technology when you cannot hear the
conversation, relying on dogs, canes, or people when you need to find your way. All of these
can increase anxiety, so why won't you help? Why can’t we make the world accessible for
people who have the same blood as us?
Some may say that it cannot be that bad, or that they are used to it, but that does not make
it easy. Today I want to talk about how we can make the world more accessible to disabled
people.
A disability is any condition of the body or mind that makes it more difficult for a person to do
certain activities and interact with the world around them. These may include learning
disabilities, physical disabilities, or even mental disabilities. Yes, some people may think that
you know what a disability is. But if you know what it is… then why aren't you helping? We
all could do at least one thing every day to help people with disabilities, but you choose not
to.
Some examples of disabilities are blindness and deafness. They are well known disabilities
all around the world, this does not mean that everyone is being accessible to them though.
People who are blind struggle with navigating, reading, clothing, devices and even people
who are overly helpful. This is terrible to hear because many people make this more difficult
by littering, or putting things in the middle of pavements, or even just not looking where they
are going or being respectful to people around them.
People who are deaf struggle with fewer education, fewer job opportunities, social
withdrawal, emotional problems and more. People can also make their lives less accessible
by looking away when speaking and some do not try to help communicate with them
because they give up.
You may not think it, but disabled people have a high chance of having mental health
problems including loneliness, social isolation, anxiety, and depression.
We could lower this chance by making them feel like they can talk about it and help them out
a little bit. For example, for people with impaired sight we could make words bigger, brighter,
and bolder while using a good colour contrast. Other things would be to encourage a clutter-
free environment to avoid potential hazards and trips while also adding some more sounded
crossings to stop the dangers of listening to cars. For deaf people we could learn some main
phrases in sign language in school, add more lights to dark places so they can navigate
easier, and you could also avoid covering or obstructing our mouth when talking to help with
lipreading.
Still think it is easy to be disabled? I have a challenge for you… Go home today, put a
blindfold on, and try to live. When you go home today, wear ear plugs or headphones that
cancel out sound, and try to live. It will not be as easy as you think.