Quote:
Originally Posted by hipster duck
Cynical response: "I can eat Pakistani food, but I can't eat queer food or disabled food".
Slightly more reasonable response that aims at the essence of my cynical response: "I can participate in Pakistani culture. I can learn Urdu and read up on Pakistani history and talk about Pakistan with my Pakistani friends, and go to their house for a traditional meal. My relationship with Pakistani culture can be a two-way exchange.
But I can't participate in disabled culture. If I did, it would be seen as incredibly patronizing. I can be an ally, and be understanding, but I can't participate in a symmetrical power relationship that I entered out of my own self-interest."
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You're centring yourself here; the benefits of diversity do not begin and end with universal access. All else being equal, a city with spaces for the communities formed by people with disabilities and for the cultural expression of those communities is more diverse than a city that does not make those spaces. This is true whether the existence of those spaces is relevant or even accessible to you as a non-disabled person; this form of diversity is absolutely relevant to people who do have disabilities. And, of course, your status as a non-disabled person is not guaranteed to last in perpetuity; what is irrelevant and inaccessible to you now will not necessarily remain so.
You're ignoring the access you have to the cultures of disability* while downplaying the power dynamics that shape intercultural (i.e. inter-ethnocultural) exchange and the limits on your abilities to participate in a different (ethnic) culture. You can learn ASL just as well as you can Urdu; you can use it (and are encouraged to use it) to interact with staff at a restaurant just a few blocks away from where I'm now sitting. You can visit a braille library. You can attend a piano recital of music composed by those with one functional hand played by those with one functional hand.
Conversely, there's only so far you can go in your participation in Pakistani culture: The dynamics of your proposed two-way cultural exchange are mediated by centuries of colonialism and racism and by the shape of globalization.
*This phrase seems imprecise, inaccurate and even condescending, but a better term is proving elusive.