Designed for the Rest of Us

DisabilityLand is the latest book from Alan Brightman and it is a treasure of insights into the ‘experiences of disability’ – what it is like to live in ‘disability land’. His anecdotes are collected from disabled children, adults, parents, educators, and his own experiences as an advocate and leader. I met Alan when his group at Apple, the ‘Worldwide Disability Solutions Group’, was already well established and thriving. It is interesting to read the story about when he proposed the concept for the group to Apple’s CEO. The answer, in typical Apple style, was:

‘You have to promise me that if this initiative is going to fail it will FAIL HUGE’.

Well Alan and his team did not fail, in fact they succeeded in making an industry more aware of the potential the computer had to change people’s lives by empowering them.

But this book is not about what Alan has done in his career, that is really a small part of it. 

The book is full of great observations about the assumptions we make as to what it means to be disabled. He manages to challenge us and at the same time leave us inspired to do the right thing – to be enablers. I encourage you to read it – this is the sort of book that can have a profound influence on your thinking and also give you hope for how things could be. Alan continues to lead the charge on these issues at Yahoo. Meanwhile, the people at Apple are doing a really good job of stepping up to the continued challenge of making their products work for everyone. Also check out www.disabilityland.org