Ableism

From RationalWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Check our privilege

Social justice

Icon SJ.svg
Not ALL of our articles

Ableism is a form of discrimination that affects people with disabilities. Ableism manifests in multiple ways with effects ranging from basic insults to direct harm of people with disabilities.

Contents

[edit] Linguistic

[A]bleist language (e.g., standing tall, seeing is believing) takes for granted that these activities are dominant and preferred. Disabling language (e.g., blind to the fact, lame idea) constructs disability as bad, as a lack. [1]

Ableism can be understood as use of language that may be disparaging to people with disabilities, even if used to refer to something unrelated.[2] Among the more commonly disparaged examples is the use of the word 'retarded' as a descriptor of a person or a person's actions. Other word choices such as 'crazy,' (e.g. "That's crazy!") 'lame,' and 'dumb' may be less obviously ableistic and, to some, not at all.

[edit] Behavioral

Treating persons with apparent disabilities as deficient or incapable, even if well meaning, further affects people with disabilities even beyond their actual disability. Speaking to a person using a wheelchair as if they were a child disempowers and possibly insults the person with a disability.

[edit] Legal

In some theories of disability, the extent of the disability is exaggerated or even fully created by the physical and social environment surrounding people,[3] rather than by the consequences of any actual impairment. Elevators, for example, that don't accommodate people with vision impairments can be seen to be a barrier to full function. In this theory, a failure to create a physical environment suitable for all to use is a form of ableism, one that is either legally sanctioned or not addressed through straightforward legislation.

[edit] Footnotes

Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Tools
support