The Ease of Access

I think a lot about access as a fat person with multiple chronic illnesses. Over time, my world has gotten smaller—whether it’s amusement park rides with weight limits or venues lacking elevators. When the world is not designed to accommodate your body’s needs, every excursion needs to be well-coordinated. 

Thinking through every moment of your existence in this way is not only exhausting, it’s confining. But what if we lived in a world where access—to medical treatment, to the workplace, to basic enjoyment—was not treated as an afterthought, but was embedded in every element of our society instead?

As we watch a genocide unfold in the Gaza Strip, it’s important to remember that access of any kind is predicated on safety. Ramzy Baroud, Ph.D., a native Gazan, journalist, and a Palestinian studies scholar, gives voice to what happens when that safety is denied in his stunning essay about the ongoing fight for displaced Palestinians to seek safe haven without losing sight of where they’ve come from. When your physical homeland has been destroyed, how do you hold on to your sense of home, and your people’s roots?

That guiding question has helped us shape this issue. Disability communities have long modeled what it means to fight for equitable access to our institutions, so it was imperative for us to include some of that community’s leading activists. Alice Wong offers a generous and beautiful op-ed about the obstacles she faces in the medical system and the ways she and other disabled people effectively advocate for themselves. We also recruited s.e. smith, an author who has appeared in several issues, to explore the remote work “revolution” and question who actually benefits from it.

As always, we have some fun too: Our very own Sonali Kolhatkar honors the special role libraries play in our lives, while Amelia Diehl spotlights the clean air clubs making it safer for high-risk folks to enjoy events by decreasing their chances of contracting severe COVID-19 when gathering. This issue includes stories about everything from gender-affirming care to the importance of preserving traditional music in Morocco, but above all, it helps us recognize that access is everyone’s responsibility. 

Advocating for access should not fall on the shoulders of those already fighting to be seen; it’s incumbent on us all, collectively, to ensure that the world we inhabit is as considerate as possible of everyone’s needs. Achieving true liberation starts with ensuring we all have equal access, adopting the North Star of the disability community as a North Star for us all.

Be well,
Evette Dionne