The high cost of living in a disabling world

Why inclusive living is just a pipe dream. For all the advances that have been made in recent decades, disabled people cannot yet participate in society "on an equal basis", and the pandemic has led to many protections being eroded even further. Jan Grue, a sociology professor in Oslo with muscular dystrophy, reflects on living in a vulnerable body and how the pandemic has exacerbated the pitfalls of a disabling society. Here, he explores why, for all the advances that have happened, the world is far from equal for disabled people. "Accessibility may, as the disability scholar Tanya Titchkosky has pointed out, exist in much the same way as 'diversity' does – for the sake of bragging rights on the part of institutions, organisations and companies. If a few minority representatives are made visible, are included, then that serves as sufficient evidence that anti-discrimination policies have been put in place and are good enough."