We Often Do Not See Ableism

I imagine that if you are reading this column, you probably consider yourself a kind, caring person who would never insult people with disabilities. Yet I guarantee you have.

Ableism is so pervasive in our society that even kind, caring people like yourselves have been guilty of ableist comments and attitudes. And as kind, caring people, I know you want to learn how to avoid such offenses.

Our English language is full of words and phrases that we use on a regular basis that are rooted in disdain and devaluation of people with disabilities. Any time you’ve said “she’s crazy” or “that’s so dumb,” you have engaged in what are called microaggressions.

A microaggression, if you are not familiar with the term, is an indirect, subtle and usually unintentional remark that discriminates against a marginalized group.

If microaggression sounds too fancy, it is often simply an insult.

Words like crazy, dumb, stupid, idiot, nuts, lame and bonkers, are not just insulting to the people toward whom they are directed; they are insulting to everyone who has ever had a medical condition or disability who has been labeled with those terms. By using them as insults, we communicate to everyone that having a mental health disorder, an intellectual disability, a physical disability or a cognitive impairment is innately bad.

We not only display ableism by using these terms (and if you do use them, now is the time to stop), but we are ableist when we believe that having a disability is worse than not having a disability.

Being smart does not make you better than anyone. Being able to walk unaided is not better than using a wheelchair. Being strong and fit and young and able is not better than having a disability.

The problem people with disabilities face is living in a world that believes that being abled is better than not being disabled. Our bodies and minds are not the problem. Discrimination – both subtle and overt – is the problem.

Next time you take pity on a person with a disability or assume that a person with a disability has a poor quality of life or use some tongue-twisting euphemism for disability (such as “handi-capable” or “special needs”), think about where that idea comes from. If it stems from the assumption that having a disability is wrong or that disability itself is an insult, you are diagnosing a case of ableism.

Ableism is the water we swim in. Ableism is so deeply entwined in our Western culture that it we often do not see it.

But we must learn to see it. The pervasive ableism around us does real, substantial harm to people with disabilities. Its impact includes everything from physical barriers to buildings to constraints on employment opportunities to death caused by discrimination in health care. Ableism keeps people isolated and impoverished and then kills them.

You don’t have to just take my word for it. Google “ableism” and “ableist microaggressions” and let a few disabled activists help you see the ableism around us.