Your little doorstep is my wall: A personal experience of living in a disabling society

Abstract

This article is a personal account of experiences of living as a disabled person after a stroke. The theoretical basis is time geography, with an emphasis on restrictions and barriers encountered. The article is structured around the concepts of impairment (the physical and/or mental state of a person) and disability (the status conferred to a person on the grounds of this impairment). The article gives an account of the everyday life of an impaired/disabled person in Trondheim.

Keywords:

• disability
• impairment
• time geography

Notes

1. Abilism is defined in this article as discrimination by the able-bodied of the non able-bodied, e.g. the persistent use of separate or unequal entrances to public buildings for the non able-bodied, if entry is possible at all.

2. This article is an edited version of a paper presented at the Inaugural Nordic Geographers Meeting at Lund, Sweden, 10–14 May 2005, in the session on ‘Time geography, place and health’. An unedited version of the article, dated 27.04.2005, is available on the Internet (www.keg.lu.se/ngm/html/papers/paper_lofgren.pdf).

3. If one is incapable of answering questions other than those that can be answered by a straightforward and unquestionable ‘yes’ or ‘no’, it can be rather frustrating when people start asking questions such as ‘Do you want it like this or like that?’

4. Norway is not member of the EU, but as a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) is compelled to follow the same rules as if it were a full member, an irony not wasted on those who argue that Norway should apply for full membership.

5. At least in the Nordic welfare states in general, where resources are supposed to be distributed according to the principle ‘equality for all’.