Wake Up: Ableism

Ableism has brought out so much anger. There seems to be a lot of anger amongst disabled people. Anger is a very negative emotion that often takes what limited energy we have. Over the 28 years since my diagnosis, I have encountered a lot of angry disabled people, it is an accepted part of living with disability. I am not a naturally confrontational person and always counsel people to pick their fights, to be assertive in the face of hostility. In my own experience, I am aware of a hostile political environment, I have witnessed incredible stupidity, laziness and rudeness but put it down to poor human behaviour. I call it a ‘new’ concept, but sadly it is only new to me. I started using Twitter regularly at the end of 2018 and quickly picked up on the strength of emotion that Ableism was inflicting on other disabled people around the world. Although very familiar with discrimination, I was concerned that recognising the Ableism behind it was nothing but a vehicle for pure anger, that it would quickly undermine any progress we had made. But it is not.

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8 responses to “Wake Up: Ableism”

  1. Disability & The Media – According to me: Avatar

    […] me being ‘saved’ by the bus. I wondered why. Was it because somebody had noticed this was pure ableism that has no place in a forward-thinking society? Or (less glamorously) was it left out for […]

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  2. Origins – According to me: Avatar

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    […] a light up to a society that constantly fails us. Behind this process is a nasty prejudice called ‘ableism’, which I have written about elsewhere in this blog. The Social Model of Disability is a work in […]

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    […] is not the same as Ableism, but they are close friends. The struggles of people of colour has similarities with those borne by […]

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  5. Citizens of the World – World According to Me: Avatar

    […] all alone on a little island, interested only in myself and my own problems. I want to fight ableism with the rest of the […]

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  6. Not Goodbye, See You Later: Eight Years with AtaxiaUK – World According to Me: Avatar

    […] them does. Seeing disability in this way sets you free but it also exposes you to forcefully to the ableism that ignorance creates. Instead of being angry and resentful, working with Ataxia UK helped me […]

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    […] popular at all and I should definitely avoid getting on my soapbox and talking about access, ableism or poverty. I had attempted to dismiss the question on my application by explaining being angry is […]

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  8. What is a Disabled Life Worth? – World According to Me: Avatar

    […] for us to be alongside everyone else. Then everyone would see that society’s real burden is ableism and recognise the immense value that disabled people bring. We need to make this happen ourselves; […]

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