What Is Ableism?

The Meaning of Ableism

Words are powerful.

They can tear down or build up, heal or harm, mend or break, lift up or put down. Words can bring understanding and unite a community or create friction and alienate people.

The word ableism is no exception.

So, what is ableism? What does it mean?

I came across the word “ableism” when researching for my doctorate papers about disability issues. But I only had a vague idea of the word at the time until now.

Ableism may be a simple 7-letter word, but it carries much weight in the disability discourse. Granted, it sometimes adds confusion rather than clarity to people unfamiliar with disability-related issues. It may even rouse defensiveness in people without disabilities, who often don’t see or agree that ableism exists.

On the other hand, people with disabilities or people who have some familiarity with disability movements will assure you that ableism definitely exists. It is, in fact, a widespread and lived experience of people with disabilities.   

Before making a judgment on this word, let’s first look at its definition from different sources:

Collins English Dictionary: discrimination against disabled people. . . The word is first recorded in the period 1985-1990.”

Wiktionary: discrimination against people with disabilities or favor of those without

Dictionary.com: 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 non-disabled standard

Talila A. Lewis: “A system of assigning value to people’s bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in eugenics, anti-Blackness, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism.

This systemic oppression leads to people and society determining people’s value based on their culture, age, language, appearance, religion, birth or living place, ‘health/wellness,’ and/or their ability to satisfactorily re/produce, ‘excel,’ and ‘behave.’

You do not have to be disabled to experience ableism.”[1]

Kathleen R. Bogart & Dana S. Dunn: “stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and social oppression toward people with disabilities.”[2]

To summarize:

Ableism is conscious or unconscious bias, prejudice, and discrimination against people with disabilities, with the belief that disabled people are less than and inferior to non-disabled people because of their disabilities.

The Types of Ableism

Ableism can manifest in many different forms. Depending on the disabled individual’s experience and context, it is subject to various interpretations.

Ableism takes place on different levels of society.

• Systemic ableism

Systemic or institutional ableism involves attitudes, patterns of behavior, practices, policies, and organizational culture that create or perpetuate unfair treatment and disadvantage for people with disabilities. An example is an organization’s recruiting and hiring policies that are in favor of non-disabled applicants. Another example is the inaccessible and inadequate health care services for people with disabilities. Many diagnostic and exam equipment is not accessible for people with disabilities. Hospitals often do not make important information in an accessible format, hindering patient care communication.

• Interpersonal ableism

Ableism also takes place on a micro-level in social interactions and interpersonal relationships. For example, a waiter may ignore a disabled person but only talk to the person’s companion.

• Internal ableism

Internal or internalized ableism occurs when people with disabilities are so heavily influenced by stereotypical and harmful messages against disabilities that they start to believe those messages. For example, they may think their disabilities are “problems” to be “fixed.”

Ableism shows up based on various disability-related factors.

• Physical ableism

This form of ableism is discriminatory attitudes and practices centered around people with physical and visible disabilities. It can show up on a personal level, like treating people with dwarfism as children even though they are adults. Physical ableism also happens on an organizational level. For example, buildings with narrow entries or sidewalks that are not accessible for people using mobility equipment.

• Mental ableism

Mental ableism is discrimination against people with mental health conditions or cognitive disabilities. Examples of mental ableism are using derogatory terms to describe mentally ill people or avoiding people with challenges in social interactions.

Ableism can display itself in different ways.

• Direct ableism

Direct ableism is discrimination against people with disabilities with the intention to cause harm and pain. Direct ableism includes shaming and cursing people with disabilities, bullying them, or acting violently toward them. This form of ableism is malicious and oppressive in nature.

• Microaggression

Microaggression often originates from unconsciously held prejudice or misunderstanding against people with disabilities. Some examples of microaggression are: offering unwanted help to people with disabilities, asking intrusive questions about their disabilities, finishing their sentences for them, not speaking to them directly, etc. Though these attitudes and actions may seem small and subtle, they are hurtful and condescending to people with disabilities.

Ableism often signifies attitudes and intentions.

• Hostile ableism

This damaging form of ableism is aggressive and hateful in nature. It can manifest in denigrating language, humiliating gestures, and even brutality toward people with disabilities.

• Benevolent ableism

Ableism can appear to be benevolent, kind, and caring. Unfortunately, benevolent actions are disguised under the presumption that people with disabilities are pitiful, helpless, and can’t accomplish much. Therefore, people with disabilities often become targets of overprotection, unwanted help, patronization, and infantilization.

• Ambivalent ableism

This form of ableism can be expressed as between hostile ableism and benevolent ableism. Depending on the situation, people’s attitudes toward disability can shift from positive to negative or vice versa. For example, people may be kind and patient with a child with Down syndrome but impatient, even avoiding an adult with Down syndrome.

The Examples of Ableism

Ableism or disability prejudice is the disrespectful and denigrating treatment of people with disabilities, whether they have actual disabilities or are perceived to be disabled. Ableism can be manifested in many different ways that include but are not limited to:

• violence
• bullying
• exclusion
• alienation
• segregation
• force
• restraint
• pity
• teasing
• mocking
• belittlement
• avoidance
• condescension
• overprotection
• dehumanization
• objectification
• infantilization

Some common examples are:

1. Feeling uncomfortable around people with disabilities and avoiding them.
2. Displaying patronizing attitudes by showing pity, offering unwanted help, or changing to a voice used for speaking to a child.
3. Invading disabled people’s privacy by asking intrusive and inappropriate questions like, “What’s wrong with you?”
4. Stereotyping people with disabilities:
5. Thinking they are a disability monolith and ignoring individual experiences.
6. Assuming they fit into a few specific personality types and treating them accordingly, for example, happy and innocent, moody and unpredictable, grumbling and angry, naïve and tactless, or depressed and pitiful.
7. Placing them in a hierarchical order based on our own bias. For example, people with physical disabilities are “better off” than people with mental or intellectual disabilities.
8. Denying people’s disabilities if they are not visible.
9. Holding outdated moral or religious views that disabilities imply punishment and judgment for sins on the individual and/or the family.
10. Speaking about a person with disabilities in front of that person as though that person is not present.
11. Speaking to the companion of the person with disabilities rather than the person with disabilities.
12. Using space, equipment, or facilities designated for people with disabilities, like accessible bathroom stalls, handicapped parking spaces, etc.
13. Not considering accessibility when designing a building or planning a public event.
14. Discriminating against people with disabilities in employment opportunities by refusing to make reasonable accommodations in a workplace, etc.
15. Objectifying people with disabilities as “inspiration” for the benefit of non-disabled people.
16. Inaccessible public services, such as subway stations not having elevators or wheelchair ramps.
17. Government programs impose senseless and counterproductive limitations and restrictions on people with disabilities. For instance, people with disabilities may lose supplemental security income benefits for working or getting married.
18. A report released by the National Women’s Law Center shows that in the U.S., forced sterilization is still allowed in 31 states, plus Washington, D.C.[3]

The Impact of Ableism

Ableist language and actions cause emotional pain to people with disabilities and their loved ones. The constant negative and harmful messages may lead to mental health issues for them. The inaccessibility of public facilities and services restricts their mobility and participation in everyday activities. Similarly,

neglecting to provide information in alternative formats creates communication barriers for people with visual, hearing, or speech impairments or developmental disabilities. The lack of access to important information concerning healthcare, banking, education, etc., can severely affect their everyday lives, learning opportunities, and overall well-being.

Moreover, the ableist mentality in organizations and businesses makes it difficult for people with disabilities to find employment, retain jobs, or receive promotions. The lack of workplace opportunities leads to increasing poverty and impoverished lives among people with disabilities.

The Future of Ableism

Ableism is deeply ingrained in today’s culture. Because of its pervasiveness, ableist attitudes or actions are often overlooked and neglected. Unsurprisingly, most non-disabled people harbor ableist beliefs and have behaved in ableist ways without even realizing it.

Now, we can see that ableism does exist. In fact, its ugly tentacles reach almost all sectors of our society. It damages the well-being of people with disabilities and disrupts society’s unity and progress. What do we do with this newfound knowledge? Here are some suggestions:

• Learn about disability and its impact on people.
• Learn about ableism and its manifestations, implications, and impacts.
• Learn about the history of disability rights movements, laws, and legislation.
• Be-friend people with disabilities and learn about their personal stories.
• Be aware of and avoid using ableist language.
• Speak up when you witness discriminatory behaviors toward people with disabilities.
• Do not use equipment, spaces, or facilities designated for people with disabilities.
• Do not invade the privacy of people with disabilities by asking intrusive questions.
• Consider accessibility and consult people with disabilities when planning events and activities.
• Provide communications and information in alternative formats.
• If you are an employer, make hiring fair and accessible for people with disabilities.
• If within your authority, make reasonable workplace adjustments for employees with disabilities.
• If you are an educator, make your classroom a welcoming, affirming, and accessible place for every student.
• If you are a healthcare professional, see past a patient’s disability and treat your patients with disabilities with the same courtesy and respect as other patients.
• Advocate for healthcare facilities, i.e., hospitals, clinics, and doctor’s offices, to be disability accessible.
• Work to change organizational cultures to combat ableism.
• Share your understanding of disability and ableism with others.
• Advocate for accessibility and inclusion.

We can choose to continue our ableist ways of thinking and acting, or we can start to make positive changes toward a more inclusive society.

What is your choice?

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[1] TALILA A. LEWIS. “TL’s BLOG.” Accessed August 19, 2022. https://www.talilalewis.com/blog.html.

[2] Bogart, K. R., & Dunn, D. S. (2019). Ableism Special Issue Introduction. Journal of Social Issues, 75(3), 650–664. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12354

[3] Forced Sterilization of Disabled People in the United States. (n.d.). National Women’s Law Center. Retrieved August 20, 2022, from https://nwlc.org/resource/forced-sterilization-of-disabled-people-in-the-united-states/