ABSTRACT
Disabled people have long been labelled as Other. Across the globe, ableist prejudice, ignorance and institutional discrimination is rife (Barnes and Mercer 1995). As a consequence, disabled people generally occupy inferior positions within society, marginalized to the peripheries. Disabled people are more likely to be unemployed, occupy poorer housing, and have restricted access to education and transport than their non-disabled counterparts. As noted by Gleeson (1996), Imrie (1996) and Kitchin (1998) the oppressive experiences of disability are rooted in specific socio-spatial and temporal structures. Forms of oppression are played out within, and given context by, spaces and places. Spaces are currently organized to keep disabled people ‘in their place’ and places written to convey to disabled people that they are ‘out of place’. For example, urban space is implicitly and explicitly designed in such a way as to render certain spaces ‘no go’ areas. Implicit or thoughtless designs include the use of steps with no ramp, cash machines being placed too high, and places linked by inaccessible public transport. Explicit designs include the segregationalist planning including separate schools, training centres and asylums. Even within public spaces disabled people are separated and marginalized to the peripheries with separate and often shared-sex toilets and restricted access to theatres and other entertainment establishments. The messages written within the landscape by such designs are clear-disabled people are not as valued as non-disabled people. Finkelstein (1993) thus contended that disabled people occupy a ‘negative reality’.
