Ableism is a
neologismA neologism ; from Greek νές is a newly coined word that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event...
of
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
coinage used to describe effective
discriminationDiscrimination is a sociological term refering to treatment taken toward or against a person of a certain group that is taken in consideration based on class or category. The United Nations explains: "Discriminatory behaviours take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion or...
against people with disabilities in favor of people who are not disabled. An
ableist society is said to be one that treats non-disabled individuals as the standard of ‘normal living’, which results in public and private places and services, education, and social work that are built to serve 'standard' people, thereby inherently excluding those with various disabilities. By contrast with the US,
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
usage favours 'Disablism' to describe the same processes. Other
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
-speaking nations may use either term or both.
The ‘traditional model’ in myths, literature, theatre, folklore, biography and history
Traditionally, in many cultures around the world, people with physical, sensory or mental impairments were thought of as under the spell of witchcraft, possessed by demons, or as penitent sinners, being punished by God for wrong-doing by themselves or their parents. Ancient societies used to place deformed or otherwise disabled babies upon concrete slabs outdoors exposed to storms and other harsh elements, thus killing them gradually over the course of a few days.
With the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century, came a more scientific understanding of the causes of impairment and, with it, a sense of confidence in medical science’s ability to cure, or at least rehabilitate, disabled people. Some disabled people (often for social or political reasons) were deemed incurable and placed in long-stay institutions and special schools (or, today, in day-care centres). A notion of ‘normality’ was invested with great pseudo-scientific significance. It was based on assessments of impairments from a deficit point of view against normality: what one cannot do, instead of what one can do. This has been called ‘medical model’ (or ‘individual model’) thinking by the Disabled People’s Movement over the last 30 years. This is not to deny the very necessary role of medical science in keeping many disabled people alive, and reducing their pain and discomfort, but it is to argue that disabled people should not be reduced to just their impairments.
The ‘medical model’ sees disabled people as the problem. They need to be adapted to fit into the world as it is. If this isn’t possible, then they should be shut away in a specialised institution or isolated at home, where only their most basic needs are met. The emphasis is on dependence, backed up by the stereotypes of disability that bring out pity, fear and patronising attitudes. Usually, the impairment is focused on, rather than the needs of the person. The power to change disabled people seems to lie with the medical and associated professions, with their talk of cures, normalisation and science. Often, disabled people’s lives are handed over to these professionals. Their decisions affect where disabled people go to school; what support they get; where they live; what benefits they are entitled to; whether they can work; and even, at times, whether they are born at all, or allowed to have children themselves.
In addition, the Disability Movement points out how the built environment imposes further limitations on disabled people. Medical model thinking would say these problems are due to the disabled person’s lack of rehabilitation. The Disability Movement perceives the difficulties disabled people experience as the barriers that disable them and curtail their life chances. These difficulties include in school and higher education, in finding work and suitable work environments, accessing leisure and entertainment facilities, using private and public transport, obtaining suitable housing, or in their personal, family and social life.
Powerful and pervasive medical model views are reinforced in the media, books, films, comics, art and language. Many disabled people internalise negative views of themselves and develop feelings of low self-esteem and underachievement, which reinforce non-disabled people’s assessments of their worth. The medical model, plus the built environment and social attitudes it creates, lead to a cycle of dependency and exclusion which is difficult to break. This thinking predominates in filmmaking, leisure, work and education. In schools, for instance, special educational needs are considered the problem of the individual, who is seen as different, faulty and needing to be assessed and made as ‘normal’ as possible.
Disablism
As noted above, 'disablism' rather than 'ableism' is the term favoured in the United Kingdom, this usage flows out of a perspective driven by the
Social model of disabilityThe social model of disability proposes that systemic barriers, negative attitudes and exclusion by society are the ultimate factors defining who is disabled and who is not in a particular society...
which regards 'disability' as the discrimination experienced by a person as a response to their impairment, making 'disablist' or 'disablism' the logical terms to describe discrimination on the grounds of disability.
Discrimination
The presumption that everyone is non-disabled is said to encourage environments that are inaccessible to disabled people. It is a system by which mainstream society denigrates, devalues, and thus oppresses those with disabilities, while privileging those without disabilities, according to those who describe ableist circumstances.
In extreme cases, morality, worth and intelligence may even be equated to being able-bodied or able-minded, while disability is conflated with immorality, stupidity, and worthlessness, and disabled lives may be devalued to the point that many in the society believe that one is better off dead than living with disability. The
eugenicsEugenics is the study and practice of selective breeding applied to humans, with the aim of improving the species. Widely popular in the early decades of the 20th century, after having become associated with the Holocaust, it has largely fallen into disrepute.- Overview :As a social movement...
movement of the 19th and 20th centuries, which took its most extreme form in Nazi Germany with
Action T4Action T4 was a program, also called Euthanasia Program, in Nazi Germany spanning October 1939 until August 1941, during which physicians killed 70,273 people specified in Hitler's secret memo of September 1, 1939 as suffering patients "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination", but...
, was a product of this belief, and some believe the ‘
right to dieThe term "right to die" refers to various issues related to the decision of whether an individual who could continue to live with the aid of life support, or in a diminished or enfeebled capacity, should be allowed to die...
’ movement is also an outgrowth of ableist beliefs .
Laws against discrimination
In the U.S., Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) enacted into law certain
civilCivil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim...
penalties for failing to make a public places comply with access codes known as the ADA Access Guidelines (ADAAG); this law also helped expand the use of certain adaptive devices, such as TTYs (phone systems for the deaf/speech impaired), some
computerA computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century . These were the size of a large room, consuming as...
-related hardware and software, and ramps or lifts on public transportation
busA bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. A bus seats a maximum of 8 to 300 passengers...
es and private automobiles.
In the UK, meanwhile, the
1995 Disability Discrimination ActThe Disability Discrimination Act 1995 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which makes it unlawful to discriminate against people in respect of their disabilities in relation to employment, the provision of goods and services, education and transport. It is a civil rights law...
and Disability Discrimination Act 2005 attempts the same.
These laws often concentrate mainly on the
civilCivil may refer to:*Civic virtue, or civility*Civil action, or lawsuit*Civil Affairs*Civil and political rights*Civil disobedience*Civil engineering*Civilian, someone not a member of armed forces*Civil law, multiple meanings*Civil liberties...
or legal aspect of disability discrimination and neglect the cultural dimensions that are integral to the
social model of disabilityThe social model of disability proposes that systemic barriers, negative attitudes and exclusion by society are the ultimate factors defining who is disabled and who is not in a particular society...
.
Inclusion
InclusionInclusion is a term used by people with disabilities and other disability rights advocates for the idea that all people should freely, openly and without pity accommodate any person with a disability without restrictions or limitations of any kind...
, comparatively, means that all products, services, and societal opportunities and resources are fully accessible, welcoming, functional and usable for as many different types of abilities as reasonably possible. An
ableist society tends towards
isolationThe term Isolation may refer to:isolation: the act of being alone; separation.* Solitude, a social state* Solitary confinement* Isolation - defence mechanism....
,
pityPity evokes a tender or sometimes slightly contemptuous sorrow or empathy for people, a person, or an animal in misery, pain, or distress. In regard to humans, a protective or quasi-paternal feeling of pity may be felt towards marginalized or impoverished people such as homeless families; orphans;...
, paternalism and low
self-esteemSelf-esteem is a term used in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth.Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions...
among people with disabilities, whereas an
inclusive society tends toward sociability and interdependency between the able-bodied and disabled.
See also
- Autism rights movement
The autism rights movement is a social movement that encourages autistic people, their caregivers and society to adopt a position of neurodiversity, accepting autism as a variation in functioning rather than a mental disorder to be cured...
- Disability etiquette
The term “etiquette” refers to a set of rules — written and unwritten — governing what constitutes socially acceptable behavior under a variety of circumstances...
- Intersectionality
Intersectionality is a theory which seeks to examine the ways in which various socially and culturally constructed categories interact on multiple levels to manifest themselves as inequality in society...
- List of disability rights activists
- Audism
Audism is a term used to describe discrimination against deaf or hard of hearing people, by for example assuming that the cultures of hearing people are preferable or superior to those of Deaf or signing cultures, or that deaf people are generally less capable than hearing people...
- Social criticism
Social criticism analyzes social structures which are seen as flawed and aims at practical solutions by specific measures, radical reform or even revolutionary change....
- Psychophobia
- Custom employment
External links