Unlearning Ableism
For 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, DWS and other Yukon organizations working to prevent violence are creating spaces for learning more about how GBV works and what prevention can look like.
You are not alone. You deserve support.
As we have tough convos about violence and abuse, please take care of yourself. You are the expert in your life and know best how to take care - whether it’s reaching out to loved one, being on the land, taking time for yourself, or connecting with resources.
Want to help to prevent violence? Sign up for the two FREE workshops DWS is offering on December 6th and 7th. More information and sign-up here.
Image description: Blog banner that has text “Unlearning Ableism, dawsonwomensshelter.com, @DWS_EndViolence”. Background is picture of colourful northern lights.
December 3rd is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
(July is also Disability Pride Month!)
We’ve got some resources to help folks learn more about ableism and disabled folks.
Ableism?
Talila A. Lewis has developed a working definition of ableism:
able·ism /ˈābəˌlizəm/ noun
A system of assigning value to people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in eugenics, anti-Blackness, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism.
This systemic oppression that leads to people and society determining people's value based on their culture, age, language, appearance, religion, birth or living place, "health/wellness", and/or their ability to satisfactorily re/produce, "excel" and "behave."
You do not have to be disabled to experience ableism.
Image description: rectangular image with the definition of ableism. The following words are on the image: able·ism /ˈābəˌlizəm/ noun A system of assigning value to people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in eugenics, anti-Blackness, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. This systemic oppression that leads to people and society determining people's value based on their culture, age, language, appearance, religion, birth or living place, "health/wellness", and/or their ability to satisfactorily re/produce, "excel" and "behave." You do not have to be disabled to experience ableism. working definition by @TalilaLewis, updated January 2022, developed in community with disabled Black/negatively racialized folk, especially @NotThreeFifths. Read more: bit.ly/ableism2022
Access Living created a list of what ‘everyday ableism’ might look like:
Choosing an inaccessible venue for a meeting or event, therefore excluding some participants
Image description: Screenshot of a tweet from @tee_spoonie, ‘I have zero interest in stories about “overcoming” disability."‘
Using someone else’s mobility device as a hand or foot rest
Framing disability as either tragic or inspirational in news stories, movies, and other popular forms of media
Casting a non-disabled actor to play a disabled character in a play, movie, TV show, or commercial
Making a movie that doesn’t have audio description or closed captioning
Using the accessible bathroom stall when you are able to use the non-accessible stall without pain or risk of injury
Wearing scented products in a scent-free environment
Talking to a person with a disability like they are a child, talking about them instead of directly to them, or speaking for them
Asking invasive questions about the medical history or personal life of someone with a disability
Assuming people have to have a visible disability to actually be disabled
Questioning if someone is ‘actually’ disabled, or ‘how much’ they are disabled
Asking, “How did you become disabled?”
This panel with Imani Barbarin, Ariel Henley, and Dior Vargas, facilitated by Marissa Higgins covers:
person first language
the price disabled people pay for access
planning events
confronting ableism in employment
medical model
examples of ableist language
how ableism is interconnected to white supremacy
and more!
“Ableism is so deeply ingrained into our society that we don’t even know nine times out of ten what is ableist.”
“I don’t need to remind you that I’m a person first. You should already know.”
Social VS Medical Model?
Image created by Epic Assist
Image description: Digital image of human in centre with Medical Model on left side and Social Model on right side. Text: “Medical Model. I need to be ’fixed’ to fit in with society. Can’t go to the cinemas because they are Deaf. Can’t go to cafe by themselves because they are blind. Can’t work here because they can’t go up stairs. Social Model. Society needs to change so I can fit in. Cinema hasn’t provided closed captions. Cafe hasn’t provided braille or electronic menu options. The building doesn’t have a lift or a ramp.
From SCOPE:
The (social) model says that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. Barriers can be physical, like buildings not having accessible toilets. Or they can be caused by people's attitudes to difference, like assuming disabled people can't do certain things. — SCOPE
From NDACA’s video:
Disabling barriers can include:
prejudiced opinions and attitudes
restricted access
people being systematically excluded
Disabled is not a bad word
Lily Calder writes about how viewing ’disabled’ as a bad word and avoiding it is linked to ableism:
Image description: Illustration of a brown woman with limb difference wearing halter dress, dangly earrings, and makeup. Text ‘Disabled people’s lives aren’t tragedies. Inspired by Nadina Lapina’
Illustration by Liberal Jane Illustration @liberaljane
Don’t use the phrase ‘differently abled’. It’s condescending. Not only that, but it implies that ‘disabled’ is a bad word. Much like many will use other adjectives to avoid using the word ‘fat’, the word ‘disabled’ carries dirt. It carries baggages. And that causes society to avoid it. “We don’t want to offend!” they claim. Great! Just use the word ‘disabled’. Because WE ARE. And it’s not a dirty word. It’s honest. It’s accurate. We know we’re not ‘able’. It’s not like you need to stage whisper it, or tiptoe around the issue. Use the word. Disabled folk do. We’d like it if you would too, if at the very least to start facing your ableist attitudes. After all, confronting your ‘isms’ — racism, sexism, ableism — starts with watching what you say and do. Think about your vocabulary. — Lily Calder
Nina Tame connects the wanting to ’soften’ disabilities and how it helps to ignore the oppression:
When we deny Disability, when we try to soften it somehow by using terms like “differently-abled” and “handicapable,” we’re erasing the acknowledgment of societal barriers that Disabled people face. It erases an identity, erasing a community of diverse, brilliant people. — Nina Tame
Read about how the word ’fat’ is not a bad word either here.
“No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp. Never.”
Beyond Inspiration
Stella Young’s TedTalk covers the dangers of exceptionalizing disabled people.
“Life as a disabled person is somewhat difficult. We do overcome things. But the things that we are overcoming are not the things you think they are…
I learn from other disabled people all the time. I’m learning not that I am luckier than them though.
I’m learning that it’s a genius idea to use a pair of barbeque tongs to pick up a thing that you dropped.” — Stella Young
“We’ve been sold the lie that disability is a Bad Thing.”
Language matters
The negative terms we use says a lot about what our culture views as negative - intentionally and unintentionally.
“ We build a world with the language we use, and for as long as we’re comfortable using this language, we continue to build and reinforce disableist structures”
Not using folks with physical, mental, and neurological disabilities to describe awful things or to use as put-downs is a very early way we can start unlearning ableism.
Image description: Table - ‘Unlearning Ableist Language’. Instead of ‘crazy, retarded, dumb’ use ‘unreal, frustrating, annoying, irritating, obnoxious’. Instead of ‘special needs, handicapped, differently abled’ use ‘disabled, has a disability’. Instead of ‘wheelchair bound, confined to a wheelchair’ use ‘wheelchair user’. Instead of ‘lame’ use ‘bad, awful, unpleasant, boring’. Instead of ‘tone deaf’ use ‘out of touch, insensitive’. Instead of ‘blind to’ use ‘ignorant, unaware of’. Instead of ‘bipolar’ use ‘emotional’. Instead of ‘normal, healthy’ use ‘non disabled’. Instead of ‘hearing impaired’ use ‘hard of hearing’. Instead of ‘suffers from ________’ use ‘has a disability’.
Lydia X.K. Brown has an incredible resource of ableist language, what some common slurs really mean, as well as suggestions for when you really want to get swearing! Invisible Disability Project also has a cool and useful glossary.
Karin Willison explains why ‘wheelchair bound’ is so inaccurate and hurtful:
In reality, people who use wheelchairs may sometimes get out of them for a multitude of reasons — to reach something, sit in a restaurant booth, get into the driver’s seat of their car, and more. Many people who use wheelchairs can walk to some extent, but it’s just too slow, painful, or exhausting to travel long distances. Even people like myself who can’t walk at all still get out of our wheelchairs to bathe, sleep, etc. We are not bound to our wheelchairs in any way.
A wheelchair is not confining. It is a mobility device — it gives me something, and takes nothing away. I can go just about anywhere in my wheelchair, from the grocery store to the theater to the Grand Canyon. Without my wheelchair, I would be bound and confined. With it, I am free.
- From FreeWheelingTravel.org
Language nerds, also point out to us that ableist language is imprecise. From BBC.com:
Disability as metaphor is also an imprecise way to say of saying what we really mean. The phrase ‘fall on deaf ears’, for example, both perpetuates stereotypes and simultaneously obscures the reality of the situation it describes. Being deaf is an involuntary state, whereas hearing people who let pleas ‘fall on deaf ears’ are making a conscious choice to ignore those requests. Labelling them ‘deaf’ frames them as passive, rather than people actively responsible for their own decisions.
Accessibility is good for everyone
Being accessible and including disabled people is often thought of as So Much Work, but the truth is that both disabled and non-disabled benefit from accessibility.
Angela Glover Blackwell describes the Curb-Cut Effect in her article "Equity: Not a Zero-Sum Game"
First documented as the response to the advocacy of people in wheelchairs, these sidewalk indentations turned out to benefit many: those pulling suitcases on wheels, pushing babies and young children in strollers, bikers, workers with large racks making deliveries, and many others. The Curb-Cut Effect is a vibrant illustration of how laws and programs designed to benefit vulnerable groups, such as the disabled or people of color, often end up benefiting all. That creation underscores a foundational belief: we are one nation, we rise or fall together.
“There’s an ingrained societal suspicion that intentionally supporting one group hurts another. That equity is a zero-sum game. In fact, [...] when we create the circumstances that allow those who have been left behind to participate and contribute fully—everyone wins.”
Curb-Cut Effect examples include:
Image credit: Sketchplanations - https://sketchplanations.com/the-curb-cut-effect
Image description: Cartoon of a streetscape with a curb with a ramp. Many stick figures are in the scene: someone using a wheelchair, pushing a stroller, using a cane, biking, pushing a dolly loaded with boxes, and someone with wheely luggage. Text: The curb-cut effect. When we design for disabilities… we make things better for everyone.
Curb-cuts (sidewalk ramps) - designed for wheelchair users and benefits folks pushing strollers, wheeling luggage, walking/running while talking or distracted, and more
Texting - a technology developed for the Deaf and hard of hearing folks and benefits hearing folks too
Closed captioning - also designed for Deaf and hard of hearing folks but so useful if you’re watching tv in a busy area or struggle with attention
Bonus Fact! Curb-cuts have a very cool direct action history!
Sometimes we want to talk about other things than disability
It can be freeing to be able to chat with folks who deeply understand the specific disabilities we live with. (Have a disabled friend? One quick thing you can do is light research on the disability so they don’t have to teach you about it. Every person’s experience of disability is different, so asking kindly and listening are important too!)
Also, disabled folks have lots going on other than just their disabilities. Limiting conversations or relationships just to one part of them can be tokenizing.
“That’s really degrading to feel like the only interesting thing about me is my disability.”
Not All Disabilities Are Visible
From Invisible Disability Project:
An “invisible,” “non-visible,” “hidden,” “non-apparent,” or "unseen" disability is any physical, mental, or emotional impairment that goes largely unnoticed. An invisible disability can include, but is not limited to: cognitive impairment and brain injury; the autism spectrum; chronic illnesses like multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, and fibromyalgia; d/Deaf and/or hard of hearing; blindness and/or low vision; anxiety, depression, PTSD, and many more. We understand the body as always changing, so disability and chronic illness may be unstable or periodic throughout one’s life.
Andrew Solomon wrote in the New York Times:
The word “disability” evokes images of ramps, lower-positioned urinals, grab bars and other allowances in our architectural landscape. But an untold number of people have disabilities — from A.D.H.D. to addictive disorder to lupus — that aren’t necessarily helped by a designated parking spot. A person who walks with a limp but uses no physical support may be jostled on the street like anyone else. An autistic person, or a person with a mental illness, will often be disdained or even assailed for peculiar or antisocial behavior.
“I kept hearing, ‘Oh, but you look fine. You look great. It’s just arthritis. Oh, you’re young, it’s OK.’”
Eileen Davidson describes the extra work of having to disclose her disability:
"When people can't see [the issue], they tend to diminish the severity of the disability. That can be really difficult for somebody who's actually going through it because research suggests that those who have a strong support network actually have better outcomes.”
Check out Hive Learning’s 7 Ways to Be More Inclusive of People with Invisible Disabilities.
Why Does DWS Care about ending Ableism?
Image description: Infographic intersections of intimate partner violence experienced by women with disabilities. Text version here.
Because of intersectionality. All oppressions are connected. As we work to end patriarchy and other oppressions that hold up systems of abuse, we need to also be working to end ableism.
Because disabled folks experience ridiculously high rates of violence: More than half (55%) of women with disabilities report domestic violence compared to 37% of women without disabilities.
Safe Austinmodified Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs’ power and control wheel to highlight all the ways ableism creates ways for folks using abuse to target disabled people:
Image description: Infographic in the shape of a wheel with information in each wedge, ‘Power and Control: People with Disabilities in Relationships’. Text version here - https://www.safeaustin.org/our-services/prevention-and-education/disability-services/power-and-control-wheel-full-text/
If we’re talking about abuse, it’s also important to talk about what safety, respect, and equity look like too! Don’t worry, Safe Austin has got your back!
Image description: Infographic in the shape of a wheel with information in each wedge, ‘Respect: People with Disabilities in Relationships’. PDF version here - http://safeaustin.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2017-SAFE-Respect-Wheel.pdf
More Resources about Disability and Gender-Based Violence
Factsheet - Violence Against Women and Girls with Disabilities by PLAN
Violence Against Women with Disabilities: Violence Prevention Overview by Vecova Centre for Disability Services and Research
Women with Disabilities and D/deaf Women, Housing, and Violence by VAW Learning Network
Girls Without Barriers: an intersectional feminist analysis of girls and young women with disabilities in Canada by DAWN Canada
