Autism & Ableism
Disclaimer: Any views, opinions and tips on this blog are personal and belong solely to myself (Kyra) and don’t represent the views of affiliated professionals and organisations. Additionally, I’m not a professional advisor regarding Autism and the content produced on this blog is solely from my own experiences.
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Have you heard of ableism? Ableism is hard to spot as it’s widely socialised into our society. Nevertheless, in this blog post, I will describe what ableism is, why it happens, ableism in action, and how we can tackle it.
What is ableism?
According to Ellie Middleton in her book Unmasked, “ableism is a form of discrimination against disabled people, based on the negative belief that disabled people are inferior or less capable than non-disabled people.’
It promotes the unequal treatment of people due to their actual or presumed disability. This implies the stigmatisation, marginalisation and exclusion of disabled people in all institutions - education system, healthcare and employment.
Why does ableism happen?
There are multiple reasons why ableism happens, including the fear of disability, lack of disability awareness, and moral beliefs.
But, it’s first important to understand that ableism is a learned social behaviour reinforced by our primary and secondary socialisations - for example, our parents and the media.
The media for instance is a large contender behind why ableism is further reinforced in society today. This is because the media creates an image of disabled people as a group needing protection and guidance from those around them.
A non-Autistic example that comes to mind is the ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame,’ who is seen as vulnerable and helpless to the audience to gain sympathy from them.
This strongly links with parentalism, which refers to the subordination of disabled people by enabling dominant individuals in society to express sympathy for minority groups, while keeping them in a position of social and economic subordination. As a result, the media reinforces the idea of ableism, in which disabled people are viewed as “helpless, dependent, asexual, and economically unproductive” (Hahn, 2019).
Ableism in Action
As mentioned earlier, ableism is a form of discrimination against disabled people, meaning that it can manifest in different forms. For example, ableism can happen on an institutional or individual basis.
Institutional examples:
Separating students into two groups: disabled and non-disabled.
Inaccessible workplaces - lack of wheelchair access.
Doctors not listening to Autistic people based on the misconception that they don’t understand things or lack capacity.
Individual examples:
Your parents not informing you on important conversations because of their belief that you’re “overly” sensitive due to your anxiety.
You’re roommate having loud music despite knowing that you’re sensitive to noise.
Your friends leave you out of a group event due to them assuming that you wouldn’t like it due to it taking place in a concert hall.
Ableism in Employment
It took me years to understand ableism and how to spot it. It wasn’t until last year when I had an epiphany that I realised that I experienced many cases of ableism throughout my life so far.
In particular, during my role as an activity leader, I was treated differently than my colleagues. Despite pushing through my anxiety and completing my tasks in high standards, I was always treated as a nuisance or hindrance to my staff.
For instance, I remember my manager and supervisor making snide remarks always secretly aimed at me. And their action escalated to them putting me on tasks that wouldn’t involve me interacting with the students and their teachers. I was the only one they did this to.
After that experience, believed that I was the one at fault due to my “quiet” nature and “nervousness,” but the truth is that they purposely excluded me from activities due to my presumed disability (this was before my formal diagnosis).
How can we tackle ableism?
As Kerry Mead says, it takes a long time to dismantle long-standing beliefs held by society and institutions, but there are multiple things that we can do today to start dismantling these negative beliefs surrounding disabled people.
Remove functioning labels that put Autistic people into categories of ‘low-functioning’ and ‘high-functioning.’
Challenge media images of Autistic and neurodivergent people.
Don’t make assumptions about individuals based on their disability.
Follow and support Autistic and neurodivergent activists on social media.
Call out ableism when you see it or hear it.
What Next?
If you would like to gain further information about ableism, I would highly recommend reading Ellie Middleton’s book Unmasked. This is where I gained most of my knowledge about ableism and its hidden depths, including the intersections between ableism and pretty privilege.
You can learn more about her book here.
There’s limited research on the intersectionality between race, disability and gender, and how it amplifies stereotypical images of specific groups, especially for Black Autistic women.