What is the mostly overlooked problem the handicapped face?

One thing could be by how much people try to help when they don’t want it or don’t need it. It can probably get annoying for some to constantly be reminded how they are viewed. This is especially true of those who pride themselves on not letting a handicap slow them down or hold them back.

@ARE_you_kidding_me great answer. Yes, it’s how they are viewed is their handicap more than sometimes.

Loneliness

Amen.

Invisibility. For the hard of hearing./deaf.

Double doors. I might manage opening the first one and getting through, but there is not enough room to deal with being in the middle.

Ways to warn blind persons they are approaching a construction site. You see crews take two or three days to repair a water main break, and there’s barriers, dirt piles, and frequently a torn up sidewalk.

Seem like they could find an inexpensive way to have ultra sonic beeps, and sunglasses which pick them up, so everyone doesn’t hear it. Maybe an app which then directs the person to a safe detour.

I live in a state and city where so much is built in the last 40 years that ADA is taken into account from the start. Wide halls and doorways. Lower light switches. My house has bars in the showers to hold onto, it was built that way.

There was a lawsuit here that the continuing education here didn’t accommodate the deaf. I felt the lawsuit was unfair, although I do want deaf people to be able to attend any class they are interested in.

Our grocery stores have electric carts for people who have trouble walking.

The one thing I think that’s overlooked is no closed caption in movie theatres. It occurs to me that a deaf person can get a movie experience seeing a foreign film with subtitles better than an English Speaking film. I think if the movie is going to be closed captioned eventually, why not offer it in the cinema at least one day a week, or always at 5:00 or some sort of offering.

Ableism.

Appropriate beds suited for the disabled to make it easier to get into and out of there beds.
Here in our Town the curbs have been filed down in order that walkers and electric carts can safely maneuver them.
I don’t think that a blind person would know when a dog is approaching them?
In our apartment block when the fire alarm drill goes off we should have the lights go on and off for the deaf to know? ( some residents here have hearing problems but not completely deaf yet).

@JLeslie I live in the same state and have noticed many of the accommodations that are more easily made in “newer” buildings and developments. However, there are a few things that I find more difficult, and it imagine it would be far more difficult for those with handicaps/disabilities.

There are far fewer cart corrals here than in the northeast, which I think makes parking lots far more inconvenient and unsafe. Also, because of the climate (I presume), many buildings are built with outdoor, covered “hallways”, which can be treacherous with weather (strong winds, daily summer rain, etc.).

Lack of sidewalk/sidewalk maintenance.

Narrow parking spaces. I worked somewhere that didn’t narrow the parking space, but narrowed the width of the driving lanes in the parking lots. I don’t know if there’s a term for that. It made backing out of parking spaces SO difficult, especially in the winter.

@Cupcake If I remember correctly the side of the state you are in, I find that area to be much less cognoscenti of the older population, disabled population, and even common conveniences and perks that are found in Southeast FL. Like swimming pools in every community, your county and neighboring counties didn’t do that 30 years ago, not even 15 years ago, which I find shocking. Developers and builders fit the most part did t compete with those perks. Also, when I’m there it feels to me like people came down from states like Michigan, and built the same way. I even saw a lot of fire places! It’s finally starting to change; they are building more like the Florida I expect.

As far as the cart corral, Publix back in the day used to not install them at all. I thought that was odd also when I moved to Florida. Keep in mind a Publix shopper can also ask for an escort to their car to put the groceries in the car, and then that person will return the cart to the store.

I hate when lanes are two narrow in parking lots, I know exactly what you are talking about. I can’t remember which city it was that I lived in that I ran into that all too often. I hate driving my truck because it was so tricky to get out of a parking space.

No sidewalks is very dangerous for people who need a wheelchair. They can attach a flag, or something that is at eye level that warns a driver.

I live in a retirement community now, and we have golf cart paths throughout the city, but in the residential areas sometimes the carts/bicycles/pedestrians are sharing the roads with the cars. You should come up and see where I live sometime, it’s not far from you if you are where I think you are?? That might be fun to meet.

@JLeslie That’s true, there is not a big focus on the older population here. You’re not far from me… I don’t know why we’ve never talked about getting together before! :)

To get back to the question, I don’t know how wide of a net you want to cast here. But, kind of along the lines of the first response of how people are viewed, I would also say that having a chronic condition/illness/disability that is not visible is also an overlooked problem.

For example, I have lyme disease and at its worst it is debilitating. I am unable to stand for long, unable to walk long distances, unable to carry anything in my arms/hands, can’t walk up stairs (during particularly bad times). But you don’t know that from looking at me. So the judgement that I’m taking up a seat or using up a close parking space or “lazily” taking the elevator up a floor… those are all demeaning and exhausting to deal with.

So I’ll say judgement and invisible disabilities are overlooked problems.

Well. It’s a fairly broad question. Some handicaps, are far more debilitating than others. Some, are things that one could maybe adapt to, while other conditions are deteriorating, and would be harder to deal with over time.

The most glaring issues I have witnessed are related to frustration. I have worked with several deaf people, and they always seemed very frustrated with communication.

Some handicaps come with chronic pain.

It’s a tough world for people without any handicaps…

@raum Please feel free to elaborate.

Non visible disabilities are a problem all right. My disability involves aspects people can see, and others they cannot. Also, it is all unpredictable. Some days I can fix my lunch, do the dishes after, do some straightening around the house, and visit fluther. Some days get up, and stay up, is all I can manage. By the time I manage my way into the tub for a shower, I sit on that bench my doctor had sent to me, and know I will be there a while, water or no.

So, what do we do about invisible challenges, and changing conditions? Is it a duty the sufferer should assume, wearing some sort of badge which alerts people there is something amiss?
Some days I feel I should have a t shirt printed which warns people I should not be approached today.

People with rare conditions as myself have one hurdle further. The ridicule, frustration, accusations from doctors who are unfamiliar with the condition. Nearly every living person with SPS lives in torture for years, even decades before finding doctor and facilities where they can get a diagnosis. It is often a diagnosis made on faith more than science, doctor and patient guiding one another in a sort of medical game of lawn darts, trying to win without harming anyone.
Now I have veered from the topic and cried about my own issues a bit, but I’ll not delete. Someone may read these words who had given up on doctors, and see there may be gain in giving another go at it.

@Patty_Melt for one ( I think someone else referred to invisible disability) But the ones with visible diability are the ones I was thinking of eventhough I didn’t specify. because the ones with visible disability get the dicrimination from the get go, right?

Oops @Patty_Melt and @si3tech I actually did mention all kinds of disabilities. Sorry.