Abstract

In 2015, I responded to the failures that I have experienced as someone who requires support by proposing Open Access: a conceptual framework for accessibility that moves beyond a policy-based model, with guidelines for mutual care. Consisting of five tenets that describe support in the midst of an oppressive system, Open Access mobilises an interrogation of the conditions that restrain agency over strengthening accessibility measures that are the result of legal and regulatory compliance. When put into practice, it problematises the typical roles of institutionalised care by encouraging participants to collectively envision a space that suits their needs, then share accountability towards that vision as they organise for accessibility from the grassroots.