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The international symbol for access (disability access) shows a white wheelchair on blue background. It‘s used to symbolize disability access, such as disability accessible parking spaces, parking permissions for those spaces, accessible transport vehicles, accessible bathrooms, buttons for automatic doors etc. It is also sometimes used to symbolize people with disabilities.

I'm interested in your opinions about this symbol and how it represents disabilities and disability access.

Do you feel that this symbol is a good symbol for disability access?

Do you feel that this symbol represents access for people with all kinds of disabilities or only for wheelchair users?

Do you think it‘s clear who the disability access is intended for or do you feel that the symbol may be misunderstood sometimes?

Do you think that the symbol affects people‘s awareness or ideas about various types of disabilities?

Do you think some other symbol would be better to represent all people with disabilities?

How would you feel about someone wearing sunglasses most of the time, including indoors or outside on cloudy days?

Would you be uncomfortable with them, annoyed or find them rude or weird?

Would you make some assumptions about them or their reasons for wearing sunglasses indoors?

Would you feel differently if you knew they had a medical reason for wearing them?

Honest answers please. Thank you.

I came across a question here on Y!A about how people feel when they see someone with a cognitive disability or autism. I was shocked to see that almost all of the 22 people who had answered expressed either disgust or strong pity for people with those disabilities. Are those attitudes really this common? Do so many people really see people with cognitive disabilities or autism as some kind of subhumans or miserable beings with no purpose in life?

Here's a link to the question I'm talking about: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201006...

Why do so many people think that certain lifelong disabilities or disorders only exist in children?

I often come across people who think that various lifelong disorders, such as autism, Asperger‘s syndrome, PDD-NOS, ADD, ADHD etc. are childhood disorders and that they don‘t exist in adults. I‘m curious about what those people think happens to those who have those disorders? Do they think people "grow out of" those disorders or get cured or simply snap out of them when they reach adulthood or that they die before they reach adulthood?

Why are so many people unaware that those disorders exist in adults too and that they never go away completely and continue to affect the person throughout their life? Is it because there is so much focus on children with those disorders that the adults just kind of get forgotten about, or is it something else? What do you think?

I have a 20 months old female rabbit. I've had her since she was 2 months old and in her lifetime there have not been any other animals living in the household. Lately I've been thinking about getting another rabbit (a younger female), but I worry about how the two of them will get along with each other. I fear that my current rabbit may want to defend her territory and that she will view the new rabbit as an intruder. She has quite a temper for a rabbit by the way, so I wonder whether she is likely to be too aggressive towards the new rabbit or whether they will establish seniority in a peaceful way and be able to live together in harmony.

Do any of you have experience with this or know how rabbits react to new "roommates" that are added after such a long time? Insight into this would be much appreciated.

Why do some people go around intentionally spreading lies, prejudice and stigma about specific disabilities, disorders or medical conditions? Why do they intentionally mislead people and spread insulting lies about people with certain conditions? What motivates them to seek out every opportunity to work against those who already have more than enough ignorance and prejudice to deal with, on top of the actual disability? What can they possibly be getting out of this? Do they understand or even care about what consequences this has for people who are already suffering enough?

I know that sometimes when people have a bad experience with one individual who has a particular disability/condition, they assume that everyone else with the same disability/condition will be the same, but would bad experience with one or two individuals really be enough to send people on a mission to spread hate and lies about the entire group of people who happen to have the same disability?

This seems to be beyond normal ignorance. This seems more like intentional and determined sabotage, aimed at encouraging ostracization of innocent people with certain disabilities/conditions.

Have you noticed this too? What can be done to stop this?

I have heard a lot of ignorant comments, myths, stereotypes and misunderstandings about the disabilities I have. What are the most ignorant or annoying things you have heard or read about your disabilities?

Why is it that when a student with a disorder like ADHD, ADD, Asperger's syndrome etc. frequently interrupts class or needs extra attention from teachers, parents of other kids in the class are often quick to demand that this student shouldn't go to mainstream school, because it's having negative effects on the other students' education.

But when a student that doesn't have any sort of a disorder frequently interrupts class (chatty students are a typical example) and the teacher constantly needs to deal with those interruptions, nobody demands that those students should be kicked out of mainstream school for having negative effects on the other students' education.

Why the double standards? Both of them are equally interrupting others, but somehow people seem to think it's more acceptable if the student hasn't been diagnosed with anything.

I have a 6 months old mini rabbit and recently she has started to bite her cage and shake it a lot for a while. She usually starts doing this at night and stops when she sees us, but starts again immediately when we go back to bed.

Do you know why she does this and if there is any way to get her to stop doing this? I’m not sure if she does this to seek attention when she gets bored, if she is trying to get out (she gets to run around free for a couple of hours per day) or if it has something to do with her teeth or something.

This is keeping us awake at night and I’m worried about her eating the paint she bites off the cage. If you know what we can do to stop this it would be much appreciated.

Why do so many people think that if you haven't been diagnosed with anything, then there is nothing wrong with you and your problems must not be real?

It's often tricky to find the root of the problem, so it can take a long time to diagnose. If somebody has an undiagnosed problem, it doesn't mean that there is no problem, it just means that it has not been identified yet.

People refuse to be understanding and considerate and rather treat you like dirt and accuse you of various things and show intolerance until you can prove that your problem is real and that you are not just making up excuses.

Do people seriously think problems don't exist if they are not obvious and quickly provable?

How do you deal with people who don't believe that you really have a disability or keep forgetting it (maybe because it's an invisible one)? Have the people around you had a hard time adjusting to the change if you got your disability later in life? How can they be helped to understand, accept or get used to your disability?

I still get yelled at or ignored for "not listening" (I lost a part of my hearing a couple of years ago), usually by the same people who just don't accept that I can't hear well anymore. Some people think it's completely unnecessary to let me sit down when my feet are in strong pain (due to one of my disabilities) and when I say I can't walk far I'm accused of just being lazy or in need of exercise, etc.

I have a few disabilities and all of them are invisible. I would appreciate any tips that might help change people's attitude. I'm talking about people who I must deal with a lot in my life, not just random strangers.

What do you suggest we do with the unwanted children who get born into this world? Who should take care of children whose parents cannot or don't want to take care of them? Will you love them, protect them and take care of them AFTER they are born like you're doing BEFORE they're born? Or will they just be forgotten and uncared for like the millions of children who are already out there suffering without anyone to care for them?

It's easy to protect an unborn child. It doesn't have a hungry mouth to feed, doesn't need clothes and already has a shelter for the time being. But what about when they come out into the real world and need more?

Are YOU going to take care of some of those children? Or is it just easier to say a lot of big words and protest on the internet and then close your eyes to what happens to those children afterwards?

What solutions do you have to offer for those children AFTER they're born?

How do I say in Hungarian "I'm allergic to nuts and shellfish"?

Please also write how you write these words in Hungarian:

allergy

nuts

shellfish

Since it's very important that this will be correct I'm asking only those who really speak Hungarian to answer. No online translators please.

Thank you in advance for the help! :)

A lot of Western people have criticized Muslim societies for forcing women to cover themselves. Many of those same people have then banned (or tried to ban) veils in schools, work places and other public places. My question is, aren’t they doing the exact same thing they criticize others for? They too are trying to control women and tell them what to wear and what not to wear. Why are not individual women given choices and let decide for themselves whether or not to cover themselves? Why do societies always try to control everyone according to their own ideas?

Not being allowed to wear a veil if you want one is in my opinion just as bad as being forced to wear one when you don’t want to. Both are limits to individual freedom.

What do you think? Do you see any difference between those two?

Please write how you count 1-10 in your language (or other languages you know) and how you say "thank you".

Thank you! :)

Have you ever donated blood? Are you willing to donate blood? If not, why not?

Do you base your opinion of people on which religion they follow? Does their religion effect how much you respect them? Do you care more about people of your own religion than about others? Do you avoid talking to people of any certain religion? (If yes, which religion and why?)

Please be honest and please mention your religion. Thanks.

Let's say that God exists. What reason do you have to believe that he is anything like your religion tells you he is? Do you believe your religion tells the truth just because your religion says it tells the truth or do you have another reason to believe that god is like you think he is?

Have you ever thought about it that even if there is a God, there's a good chance he's very different from the way your religion portrays him? Have you ever thought about it that maybe there is a God, but no heaven or hell? Have you ever thought outside the frame of your own religion or does your religion forbid that?

Atheists and theists who have no particular religion need not reply, I know your stance on this.

I'm curious. Do you mind it if a member of the opposite sex uses a public restroom dedicated to your own sex in an emergency? (women going to the mens room or men going to the ladies room when they can't hold it). Please state your reasons and be honest.