Ableism And Social Inequality

Everyone is going through a battle that we may not be able to see; however, “American society [is often] unaware or indifferent to the plight of people with disabilities” (Davis, 2013, p. 486). Ableism is one of the most ignored areas of social justice in America. Through my own experiences, I learned that the educational system in particular is not a very knowledgeable, or flexible environment in giving accommodations for students with disabilities. Those who are able-bodied, and do not have invisible disabilities, easily fit the paradigm of an able student in society, i.e., being able to walk to every building, climb stairs to get to class, complete assignments in the allotted time, etc. Our society has socially constructed disability

Society does not seem to realize that just because you're disabled doesn’t mean you are unable they’re absolutely extraordinary people, we just have to give a chance to let them show their true potential. Just because they cannot do something the same as doesn’t mean that they are incapable.

Ableism is defined as, “the all-encompassing discrimination and exclusion of people living with disabilities” (Adams et al, 461). However, in order to determine if ableism is occurring, then one must first know what constitutes a disability. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, someone has a disability if they have a considerable handicap that hinders the actions that are important for life, such as “walking, seeing, hearing, learning, speaking, breathing, standing, lifting, or caring for one’s self” (Adams et al, 461). Disabled people make up the largest minority in the world with their estimated population at 650 million people (Adams et al, 461). Of this 650 million people, 360 million people have some sort of disabling

“There's nothing more debilitating about a disability than the way people treat you over it.”( Solange Nicole) In today's God abandoning society there are many people voicing about equality. There are feminists, those against racism, those against homophobia, and those opposed to everything. Each group seems to have people standing up for them. Although when it comes to a group of cripples there's not many that can do the standing. Ableism: Discrimination in favor of able-bodied people. While many people don't know that word, or do not believe such a thing exists, there are many things proving that it does. It is easy to get caught up in life and not realize the difficulties people have, especially ones that could be easily fixed, just by

Ableism has given people so many advantages that people take for granted. In an Exploring the Invisible Knapsack of the Able-Bodied Privilege, an essay written by May-Machunda, she discusses the ways the able-bodied people have major privileges that do not get unacknowledged by the dominate group. The dominant group is unaware of their privileges because they have never checked their own privileges. The able-body has to acknowledge the privileges they have to understand how life is not structured for every person. Ableism helps people understand the advantages of the able-body by observing how “able-body” privileges have offered many people benefits that people take for granted.

In another article, “The Functionalist View of Special Education and Disability: Deconstructing the Conventional Knowledge Tradition,” it discusses how Special Education is problematic, due to professional models, practices, and tools that are created from functionalists assumptions and theories, which have been proven to be ineffective, and sometimes harmful (Skrtic, 2005). This article is a great framework for how society has created the stigma of individuals with health, and physical needs, to the term, disabilities. For example, Skrtic explains how, Special Education was founded in part, by students who were removed, and contained due to inefficient organizations and defective students (Skrtic, 2005). Those students who didn’t fit into societies norms, were considered to be deviant, and then labeled as having a disability, or worse, labeled

Americans with disabilities make up the largest minority group in the United States. Approximately fifty million people in the United States live with physical or mental handicaps. This minority group is unique in that it is made up of people from all socioeconomic classes, genders and races. Mental and physical impairments do not discriminate. As with other minorities, Americans with disabilities face unique challenges and discriminatory behaviors. For centuries, disabled people had to battle irrational fears and stereotypes due to the lack of medical understanding. The first demand for equal treatment for disabled people came in the 1960s. The struggle for disability rights has followed a similar pattern to many other civil rights movements – first negative stereotypes must be challenged, followed rallying for political and institutional change and lobbying for the self-determination of a minority community. As a result the examples of the African American civil rights and women’s rights movements encouraged the disability rights movement, and after decades of campaigning and lobbying, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990.

Ableism, is when an able bodied person has discrimatory feelings against a person who isn't able bodied. An example of ableism, Mary,who has worked at her job for thirty years has been diagnosed with Stage 3 Thyroid cancer and has to get one of her legs amputated. When Mary's boss found out about Mary's disease he immedatley fired her.

Society’s ideological constructs and attitudes towards minority groups are created and reinforced through media imagery. Although negative associations that maintain inequities with regard to race, gender and homophobia (Conner & Bejoian, 2006) have been somewhat relieved, disability is still immersed in harmful connotations that restrict and inhibit the life of people with disabilities in our society.

When discussed what, it means to be a discriminated or oppressed as an individual, especially a person with an intellectual disability, we must first look at the terminology and how it will be relatable for their circumstances. For discrimination, it is described as people or groups of people, which include race, class, gender, age, sexual orientation, who are and continued to be defined as “other,” when they are perceived through “dominant” group values. These groups are treated in exclusionary ways, and subjected to all kinds of social injustice and economic inequality, (Anderson & Collins, 2013). In other words, persons with intellectual disabilities tend to be treated less favorable, or not given

Disability inequality occurs if you are treated less well for a reason that relates to your disability than a person without disability in same situation. This attitude towards physically/mentally disabled is also called “Ableism”. Even unintentional ableism is illegal.

It is human nature to despise those that are different than normal. Everyone has a different perception of normal and when someone cuts that boundary it results in discrimination. Some people also tend to dislike the disabled due to their own weaknesses, to hide their own failures they will look down upon the handicap to make themselves feel better. Some people's self-esteem is so tiny that they have to find someone "lower than them" to feel superior. Also society perceives the disabled as useless, powerless and inefficient human beings, which also contributes to the ideology that leads to the discrimination against the disabled. Psychological and cultural influences also result in discrimination against the disabled. Hence, we can conclude that the fact that the disabled are “different” is what leads to the discrimination against them.

Over the years, perceptions towards disability have been significantly changing as result of the long pathway the disable community has taken fighting for Civil Rights, inclusion and against discrimination. Unfortunately, this last one has not been totally accomplished yet. Barriers to social integration still exist in the society. Perhaps the greatest barrier is not the disability itself; is the attitude of people.

This week’s discussion dealt with Individuals and Disabilities. Over the years, people who have a “disability" have been subjected to prejudice and more. And the first way to diminish someone is through language, by using words or labels to identify a person as "less-than," as "the others—not like us," and so forth. Once a person has been identified this way, it makes

First, one doesn’t have to look far to see ableism at work and in effect. For instance, at my church, easy access “appears” to be in place, meaning that there is seating to accommodate those who are physically impaired. If the disabled wish to be seated in an area that accommodates wheelchairs or walkers, they must arrive, at least fifteen to twenty minutes early – facilities are not such that one can move easily once the church fills. Additionally, the seating is such that unless movement is exaggerated, the seating is out of direct eyesight of those facilitating the mass, namely the pastor. Personally, it’s not a place I like sitting; I feel totally disconnected from the celebration. Finally, even though those sitting in this area may not be disabled and may not feel disconnected from the service