New, from Reality Check - Crip Edition

Launching the Crip Glossary: Crip Culture - Disability Definitions

Inspiration

In my last post, Reality Check Woman - Origin Story, Part I, I realized I was using words and terms that most “lay people” are not accustomed to. In a way, to be authentic, I want to use the language that I would use talking to fellow crips and our allies.

I also want to acknowledge that not everyone will agree with me about every term or my personal definitions. That’s fine. This is intended to be from my perspective, informed by my experience.

So, I am going to take a whack at defining these words and terms, post by post. Please feel free to suggest words, terms, or concepts to me that you would like me to write about.

I don’t want to wait until I am done with this project to start posting, so we will do this word by word. I will compile this into one document, but we’re not there yet. Here we go.

Ableism

From Dictionary.com:

ableism

[ ey-buh-liz-uhm ]

---

noun

1. discrimination against disabled people:laws to prevent ableism, racism, and sexism in the workplace.

2. the tendency to regard people with a disability as incomplete, diminished, or damaged, and to measure the quality of life with a disability against a nondisabled standard:Ableism reinforces the idea that disability is a personal tragedy.

Explaining ableism is like trying to explain racism; it is so multifaceted and so nuanced; the above explanation is only the beginning.

Dictionary.com also said that the term ableism was first used between 1980-1985.

Ableism only entered my consciousness a few years ago; I guess it wasn’t in general use until the big “DEI - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion trend got going in HRs everywhere.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion: a conceptual framework that promotes the fair treatment and full participation of all people, especially in the workplace, including populations who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination because of their background, identity, disability, etc. (Dictionary.com)

Ironically, the DEI efforts at my former employer sensitized me to how ableist my employer was. They had a big DEI Advisory Committee without any representatives from the disability community. They had no good policy or procedures for employees with disabilities to request or receive disability-related accommodations. (They had something internally inconsistent that they didn’t know how to implement legally, as I found out during and after the COVID-19 crisis.)

Another example of ableism, or a multi-layered example, was found when I had to delve into the process for applying for short-term disability insurance. My claim was based on a newly diagnosed bilateral problem I developed in my shoulders and arms. It took months to get a quasi-diagnosis of arthritis and rotator cuff issues.

When I went to see my doctor before filing for temporary part-time disability, I told her that this arm/shoulder thing was just one disability too many for me.

When you fill out the forms, there is no good way to indicate that the applicant has one or more pre-existing disabilities. There is no way to suggest that my pre-existing disabilities are not why I can’t work full-time right now. There is no way to indicate that I can work 4 hours a day from home because I will be able to take breaks during the day and rest my arms.

The ableism in the process is foundational. The form, HR, and HR assume that if you are saying that you “always have a disability,” then how can you work at all? It is the “less than” assumption that goes with other “isms”—ageism, sexism, racism, etc.

This “less than” assumption is why HR didn’t have a straightforward process for disabled employees to request job accommodations because they didn’t want to enable those people to stay on the job. Further, the people in charge of this issue didn’t know shit about disabilities or disability-civil rights laws.

Ableism is Everywhere

Like the other “isms,” ableism is everywhere and hits you when you least expect it.

Common examples:

• There is no accessible path of travel at the medical facility

• There are so many products on display in the store there is no way for someone with a wheelchair or a walker to navigate the store

• the tables in the restaurant are so close together that people at other tables have to stand up when you’re trying to leave (here in California, Covid motivated people to spread tables out more—score for collateral benefit for the crips!)

• restaurants and bars that have a couple of lowered counter seats (these are great for me when I am traveling alone) are using the lowered counter to store bar supplies

• new (post Americans With Disabilities Act) buildings still have their entrance for wheelchairs in the back of the building

• there’s very little “on demand” (taxies, Uber, Lyft) for people who use wheelchairs who need to stay in their wheelchair

If you doubt that these things are due, in part, to ableism, then I invite you to change the scenario to one in which there’s a special entrance for people of color or ride services could refuse rides to women.

My point is that while racism and other isms are alive and well, ableism is in robust good health, and we are so accustomed to it that it doesn’t always even register.

Disabled people also internalize it. When your friends have wheelchair-inaccessible housing, you apologize for not being able to attend.

The only time I have been to Europe, I went to Innsbruck for an International Conference for service providers like myself, at the higher education level. Even though Innsbruck is an old city, the area where there were sights to see and had many restaurants and bars was navigible. I never had trouble finding a place to eat.

The first evening meal of the conference, about 10-12 of my colleagues went to a restaurant that didn’t have an elevator and was up a steep flight of stairs. When they saw me, they were like “oh well. we really like this place but it’s not accessible…”
I am pretty jaded, but considering why were there, and that I was one of their peers, and that the group was largely American—even I was shocked.

That is ableism.