Striving to remove barriers that prevent us from building Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities!
Jennifer A. Stollman, PhD, packs a fast facts handout with what we should know about ableism, and it starts with scale: census figures from 2012 show one in five Americans has a disability. Ableism is a pattern of beliefs and practices that devalues People with Disabilities and often assumes disabled people have to be fixed. Countering it means putting theory, strategy, and action to work against the prejudice and discrimination that follow, whether a disability is apparent or hidden, physical, psychiatric, developmental, or emotional. The handout is firm on one more point: a person's disability is a question of civil rights, not an entitlement.
The handout then names habits we can drop. It asks us to stop saying we are not ableist and to confront the ableist ideas we hold or still hold. It rejects pity, and it rejects praising people for having a disability, which the author describes as portraying People with Disabilities as extraordinary because of the disability itself. It rejects the claim that we do not even notice a person's disability, because the full person deserves to be recognized. Offering a hand comes after asking, since each person with a disability makes their own choices, and a diagnosis never settles what a person can do. People without disabilities are asked to stay aware of the privilege they hold and to keep it in check. Words matter too: insults borrowed from disability, and euphemisms that dodge the word disability, are on the list to retire.
Excluding People with Disabilities carries a long list of losses, and the handout spells them out. We stop celebrating the whole self. Experiences are negated and people are made to feel invisible. Potential is ignored or obstructed, our families, colleagues, and fellow community members are kept from taking part fully in society, and we lose talent and innovation along with important perspectives. People are treated as less than, isolated, and hurt, often without anyone meaning to. The handout names the stakes as human rights, and it points readers to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) while urging full protection of the rights People with Disabilities hold.
Saying we are not ableist counts for nothing until we act on it. The handout closes its action list with demands: universal design in learning, working, and recreation spaces, and workplaces, schools, and community spaces that represent People with Disabilities. It also asks us to seek out disability organizations and to engage people with disabilities like anybody else. We hold that programs, services, and events should be planned ahead, with People with Disabilities shaping the plan from the start, since they know best where the barriers stand. Having to demand that shows how far many spaces still sit from the plan.
Spaces for learning, working, and recreation should be designed universally from the first sketch, with People with Disabilities bringing their own views in early. Before we offer a hand, we should ask, and a diagnosis should never settle what a person can do. Recognizing the full person, without pity or talking down, would put Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities for People with Disabilities within reach.
Doing the work, not announcing it, is how a community stops being ableist.
Read the Full Article: Anti-Ableism Fast Facts.
By: Jennifer A. Stollman, PhD
Also See:
- What is ableism, and what is its impact?
- Horror movies have an ableism problem. Isn’t it time we found new ‘monsters’?
- Ableism 101: What it is, what it looks like, and what we can do to to fix it
- Intersections Between Racism and Ableism
- How to talk about disability sensitively and avoid ableist tropes
- I was nine when I learned what ableism is
- Becoming Anti-Ableist: A Disability Justice- Informed Approach to Supporting the Disability Community
- 8 Ways Ableism Shows Up In Religious Spaces
- Inclusion Is Not Something You Earn
