- Michaela T
- 6 min read
Updated: May 17, 2022
What it is and why it’s important to find out more.
The term ableism is a noun that means to discriminate in favor of able-bodied people.
Ableism is the discrimination or prejudice against people who have disabilities. It can take many forms like ideas and assumptions, stereotypes, attitudes and practices, and physical barriers.
Ableist language is the language that is offensive to people with disabilities. It can also refer to language that is derogatory, abusive, or negative about disability. It is basically the systemic exclusion and oppression of people with disabilities that are often expressed and reinforced through language.
From ableist descriptions (the weathers been ‘crazy’ lately) to ableist sayings (it’s the blind leading the blind) ableism has been and remains in the center of much of society and is a socially acceptable form of expression.
As there are some words that are offensive in certain contexts (e.g., it is appropriate to call a window covering a blind but is inappropriate if the term blind is used in a derogatory way by saying ‘The Prime Minister was blindly following advice.” Some words are offensive in any context and should always be avoided.
Unfortunately, because these terms were once used medically by doctors or specialists, they were then used widespread by people to describe a disabled person especially in those horrible times where sterilization and institutionalization were rampant in society. This echoed the idea that just because a term is used to describe a person’s disability in a clinical sense, it does not mean that it is then okay for these terms to be used in everyday life.
Although some people may not intend to use these hurtful words it does not mean that they don’t hurt the person feeling any less. It is so unfortunate that this type of ableist language is even a thing that needs to be highlighted more than it already has been. It is so important to talk about it because it can give members of the disabled community the feeling that they are not valued because of their disability (invisible or otherwise).
By simply carrying out my research and now knowing what it means, just further shows me just how important it is that people are educated on this but also as humans it should be just seen as common decency that people should not be discriminated against regardless of there disability, race, gender, age.
History of ableism: Before the 18th century those with disabilities were punished because they were seen as being cursed, possessed, or that their disability was caused by a person’s moral failings.
During the age of enlightenment when science began to replace religion, it meant that people with disabilities were no longer punished for their ‘moral failings’. Some people were sent to schools or homes for those with special needs which sadly, was a negative result of the ‘scientific understanding’. Unfortunately, there were also those groups that believed that the practice or advocacy of improving the human species by selectively mating people with specific desirable hereditary traits. It aims to reduce human suffering by “breeding out” disease, disabilities, and so-called undesirable characteristics from the human population. Early supporters of eugenics believed people inherited mental illness, criminal tendencies, and even poverty, and that these conditions could be bred out of the gene pool.
Examples of Ableism:
People who practice ableist behavior may not always recognize what they are doing, regardless of if there is no harm caused it can still be harmful.
*A solicitor’s office that does not have documents available in brail, meaning that those who are blind are unable to maintain their autonomy in a situation but would also have to depend on the person who can see to read the document to them properly.
*When someone begins to push their colleague, who is a wheelchair user without their permission who appears to be having some difficulty even if they don’t actually need assistance, it can undermine their bodily autonomy and also their authority by assisting them anyway.
* When a friend is describing their ex-girlfriend as ‘psychotic’ for being jealous when they knew that they used to text other women while they were together. By using language that undermines another person’s mental health perpetuates ableism by reusing terms that are used to describe psychiatric disorders. Instead of the person explaining why the behavior was frustrating, they chose to use these negative terms adding to the negative stigma of mental health disorders.
*If a person who is a wheelchair or mobility aid user is being asked to speak at an event, they should be able to easily get to where they need to be, and if there is no easy way for all guests to access the stage, the guest is being treated as the problem instead of the venue.
*When an employee speaks only to their boss’s interpreter, it is very important to speak to the person you are speaking to directly to show that you are respectful of them and that you acknowledge them.
*While out to eat and someone makes fun of the waitress’s stutter, by making fun of a person’s disability it perpetuates the idea that there is only one ‘correct' way of moving through the world than another.
Ableism: The practices and dominant attitudes in society that devalue and limit the potential of people with disabilities. A set of practices and beliefs that assign inferior value (worth) to people who have developmental, emotional, or psychiatric disabilities.
Disablism: This is a list of assumptions (conscious or unconscious) and practices that promote the differential or unequal treatment of actual or presumed disabilities.
People who do not have a disability or who are not close to someone who does might not understand how the world is wired for non-disabled people. It may be invisible to those who do not have disabilities. It is sometimes not intentional but in certain circumstances, it is very intentional. An ableist society is said to be the one that treats non-disabled individuals as the standard of ‘normal living’, which results in public and private places and services, education, and social work that are built to serve ‘standard’ people, thereby inherently excluding those with various disabilities.
Internalized ableism is when we as disabled people project negative feelings onto ourselves. Traditionally internalized ableism describes the subtle oppression of non-disabled people over disabled people (meaning that the able-bodied person would get the blame or be blamed for the negative feelings that a disabled person would have towards their own disabilities and limitations)
Internal ableism occurs when a disabled person believes that they are less worthy due to their disability and act accordingly.
e.g., it is disproportioned feelings or thoughts of being a burden to self-hatred to assuming personal incompetence in areas of your life not associated with the limits of your condition, many people with disabilities often suffer from internal ableism.
I have been guilty of this in the past, by unintentionally being harmful to those around me when trying to say how I was feeling and then not knowing at the time how truly damaging that can be to the person you are speaking to but also to the relationship you that you have with that person. As I am looking back now realizing that there was an actual term used for this type of thinking and behaviors in the disabled community) and that it is something that others in the community have experienced and continue to deal with on a daily basis.
I sometimes think about this and have made it my mission over the last couple of years to educate myself on these topics and others and by gaining a better understanding of my disability and me as a person and about how truly separate these things actually are and how a person can be many things like a mother, sister, aunt, godmother, niece, cousin, friend, daughter all outside of their disability or diagnosis.
I won't lie it took years and years of self-care and compassion for myself and for others to get to where I am today at 30 years of age being passionate about helping people with or without disabilities to learn more about different topics while also educating myself in the process.
I hope you enjoyed reading and that you learned something new in the process and if there is anything that I didn’t mention that is important please let me know! 😊
Happy Reading!
Happy Friday
Some useful links and resources