On Safe Space and Accessibility

This post was originally a comment that I made over at a FWD/Forward thread asking about accessibility. I thought that it deserved its own spot:

For me, in many ways the idea of “accessibility” is a lot like the idea of “safe space.” Someone asked me the other day what it means to be in a “safe space.” I told them that, for me, the concept of safe space isn’t necessarily a place where people understand me or are even necessarily friendly to me. A safe space is a place where I’m accommodated, by which I mean I’m in a place where I feel empowered to stand up for myself as a full and equal human being and assert who I am and what I need.

To describe what I meant, I made the analogy of being on a playground full of bullies who are hitting you: for me, an accessible place is a place where I’m empowered to do something about it, not necessarily a place where things like this don’t happen.

In this way, I feel, accessibility or safety is more than just accommodations or opinions which make it easier to be in society but an overarching, holistic attitude which fosters empowerment.