9 Ableist Statements Explained. The less than obvious biases disabled people face every day.
Intelligent people should be valued more in society.
We have come a long way from insulting people with slurs and mocking intellectual disability in comedy. But prejudice against intellectual disability is still rampant. We often see positive statements like "I am proud of my intelligence" or "Intelligent people should be rewarded" as free from ableism. However, the reverse statement "Intellectually disabled people should be valued less by society" is much more clearly ableist.
Intellect is no different from physical ability in its distribution. Both can be improved by proper training, but also rely on a base of health established by genetics and early childhood. Not being smart should not be seen as any more of a personal failing than not being athletic.
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Disabled people can not consent to sex or are not sexual.
While there are some disabled people who may be unable to consent to sex, and disabled people can be taken advantage of sexually due to disability, most disabled people can and do have sex. In fact, the biggest barrier to sex for most disabled people is the lack of people who see them as real sexual partners as not someone to pity or fetishize.
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Diagnoses allow us to determine who is society deserves accommodations.
Accommodations are not a prize to be won. Accommodations is simply a word to describe atypical needs. Anyone who has atypical needs deserves accommodations. This is not dependent on diagnosis. The reason we believe the diagnosis is essential to giving accommodations is an unfounded fear that accommodations will be abused. In reality, far more people are kept from the accommodations they need because they do not fit neatly into a diagnostic box or do not have the resources to access a formal diagnosis.
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Many people use their disabilities as excuses.
While there are some people who use disability as an excuse most of what people call using disability as an excuse is in fact simply stating reality. Disabilities are not excuses, they are valid reasons why a person is unable to do something. We would not say someone with paralyzed legs is using their disability as an excuse not to get something off a high shelf. But we frequently tell people who are unable to do something due to mental illness, chronic pain or fatigue, and other less visible disabilities that they need to stop "using their disability as an excuse." It is not an excuse, it is a clear and valid reason.
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Disabled people can do anything they set their minds to
This seems like a positive statement and therefore many assume it can't be ableist. But it is blatantly false and contributes to harm against disabled people. Here's how:
Disabled people can't do anything they set their minds to. Heck, abled people can't do anything they set their minds to. People die every day trying to do dumb things they cannot possibly physically do. Don't believe me? Go run off a cliff and try to fly. The only thing stopping you is a bad attitude!
When we pretend that physical limitations are not real we place dangerous unrealistic standards on disabled people. We push people to attempt things that can worsen their health conditions. If they have the good sense not to attempt them, we instill a feeling of guilt and inadequacy for not "overcoming" an impossibly high barrier.
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Disabled people get extra privileges in society.
This one comes from confusion over equality vs equity. Consider a group of children playing outside. One falls a cuts his knee. Equity is to give the kid of fell a bandaid. Equality is to give every kid a bandaid. Which is right?
In general, we treat disability with equity. This means meeting everyone's needs individually. This is how accommodations work.
Disabled people do not receive extra privilege in society because that would mean having more of their needs met than others. In contrast, disabled people generally have much less of their needs met. Yes, they might have a wheelchair but many live below the poverty line and struggle to feed, clothe and house themselves. Accommodations are not a privilege, they are equity.
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People should not identify as disabled
People will often give two different reasons for this statement, both of which rest in ableism.
Disability should not be accepted as permanent. Denies the reality of numerous permanent disabilities and promotes the dangerous idea that personal responsibility can either help people avoid disability or heal from and overcome disability.
Disability should not be accepted as limiting. By definition, disability is dis - abling or limiting ability. To not accept this fact places unrealistic expectations on disabled people and justifies not meeting their needs because they should be able to "overcome" their limits.
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Taking medications for life should be avoided.
This statement ignores the huge swath of the population for whom daily medication is life-saving and/or life-changing. Pill shaming is a very real challenge faced by chronically ill and disabled people. The idea that no one should need medications is a nice one, but it is simply false. This belief is often tied up in ideas such as:
-lifestyle change can cure all disabilities
-being dependent on medication is the same as being addicted
Both of which are false and harmful to people with disabilities who generally cannot be cured with lifestyle change and are not addicts but fight against these stereotypes daily in order to receive life-saving and life-changing medical treatment.
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Disabled lives are less valuable.
This is what everyone thinks of as ableism and sure enough, it is ableist. But many believe this to simply be an abstract prejudice when in reality this belief kills.
For example
-Hospitals in triage turn away patients with disabilities because their lives are deemed less valuable
-We refuse to slow the economy for the pandemic when only people with "comorbidities" are dying because being sick makes your life less valuable
-We expect disabled people to live below the poverty line because their lives are less valued
All of these decisions directly lead to the deaths of disabled people. Yet all of them continue and will continue in society so long as we see disabled people as less valuable.
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Ableism debunking lightning round!
While each of these statements could have an entire post of their own debunking why they are harmful to disabled and chronically ill people and communities, I wanted to have a single post summarizing some of the less obvious ways ableism presents.
Many of these statements are worded just a bit differently to make them acceptable in society. But that doesn't make the not ableist.
For example:
Intelligent people should be valued more in society.
Is simply the positive rewording of
Less intelligent people should be valued less in society.
A classic eugenics proposal. On the neglect and killing of people with intellectual disabilities.
Other statements like...
Disabled people can do anything they put their minds to.
Once again are accepted due to positivity bias. But rewording the statement as...
Disabled people who fail to do anything they put their minds to aren't trying hard enough.
Shows why this places unhealthy expectations on disabled people. Expectations that can devastate mental health.
Other statements are harmful because they support wishful thinking and toxic positivity. Statements like...
Taking medication for life should be avoided.
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People should not identify as disabled.
Ignore the reality of people's lives in favor of a fantasy world where serious chronic illness and disability don't exist simply because we refuse to acknowledge them.
A statement like...
Many people use their disability as an excuse.
Both feed the false idea that if we ignore disability it won't stop us and also the ableist idea that disabled people can not determine what is best for themselves.
Other statements that share this trend of not trusting disabled people to know their own needs and desires include
Diagnoses allow us to determine who deserves accommodations.
(Ie. Only a doctor can judge what accommodations someone needs, not trusting lived experience.)
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Disabled people can not consent to sex.
Infantilizing and taking away the agency of disabled people.
In summary while "Disabled lives are worthless" might be the front door to ableism, there are so many ways ableism can show its hand.
