Not just a symbol
Image Description:
Looking back, I barely acknowledged the International Symbol of Access (ISA) because it didn’t apply to me. When I got diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy, I grew to fear it and everything it represented. It’s been a long and ongoing journey of finding myself and what it means to identify as a person with a progressive disability. Today, I can say I proudly embrace the symbol. It represents much more than access to me; it communicates our existence in society. The more I see the icon, the more I’m told that we’re not forgotten about and belong in spaces just like everybody else. Although I’m learning firsthand that the mere presence of the symbol doesn’t necessarily mean complete or proper access, I still get excited to see it. It feels like a little I-Spy game that also happens to itch my design brain. (Shoutout to Susanne Kofoed who first designed it in 1969). While the symbol isn't visually inclusive of the entire spectrum of disabilities, we, as a society, still have a lot of work to do, from unpacking ableism to understanding the value of accessibility and diversity within disabilities.