Disability Justice Education Toolkit: Ableism and Structural Oppression

As with all forms of identity-based oppression, disability, and therefore ableism, is not a one-dimensional issue. Each person’s unique relationship to their disability status necessarily interacts and intertwines with other aspects of their identity and critical life experience! 

Historically and currently, disability status has been used to pathologize difference, justify violence, and normalize oppression, particularly for those who are multiply marginalized. Therefore, in order to recognize the many manifestations of ableism, we must think beyond disability diagnoses and impairments, and also consider how bodies in general are policed and regulated on the basis of social identity.

Some examples of these intersections include…

Ableism + Sexism: In the 18th and 19th centuries, women who exhibited behaviors that challenged patriarchal cultural norms were diagnosed with “hysteria”, a disorder that has since been debunked by mental health experts.

Ableism + Racism: Race, itself a social construct, has historically been pathologized in order to establish racial hierarchy and justify the oppression of people of the global majority. Cultural narratives like the “Black & Blind” musician trope can also flatten the complex identities of individuals.

Ableism + Cisheterosexism: Until 1973, homosexuality was considered a disorder by the American Psychological Association. Until 2013, gender non-conforming individuals could be diagnosed with “gender identity disorder”. This was replaced with “gender dysphoria” in the DSM V.

To support an accurately expansive perspective on disability justice, we must continually notice how ableism is interconnected with other systems of oppression. 

Ableism is interdependent with racism, sexism, cisheterosexism, classism, and other ‘-isms’ that create and perpetuate intertwined social hierarchies and systemic injustice. 

Consider the overrepresentation of Black students in special education, or the barriers that low-income families face in affording necessary basic health care for disabled individuals -- there is not just one inequity at play here; but rather, combined forces that cannot be accurately understood nor effectively remedied through a one-dimensional analysis.

While conversations about disability often focus on physical access needs, there is growing awareness of the role that neurocognitive functioning plays in experiences of ableism. Neurodiversity is a term that acknowledges the ways in which ALL human brains are singular and unique, while recognizing that some individuals’ brains vary significantly enough from neurotypical norms that they may be most accurately understood as neurodivergent. Some examples of neurodivergence include autism, dyslexia, ADHD, personality disorders, and other forms of mental illness.

Much like physical disabilities, there is a long history of pathologizing neurodivergence, casting differences in cognitive functioning and ability as a puzzle to be solved or a problem to be fixed. While some neurodivergent folks may seek to more easily adapt to neurotypical norms, many feel more aligned with The Neurodiversity Paradigm, first introduced by Dr. Nick Walker.

Three Fundamental Principles of the Neurodiversity Paradigm

1. Neurodiversity is a natural and valuable form of human diversity.
2. The idea that there is one ‘normal’ or ‘healthy’ type of brain or mind, or one ‘right’ style of neurocognitive functioning, is a culturally constructed fiction, no more valid than the idea that there is one ‘normal’ or ‘right’ ethnicity, gender, or culture.
3. The social dynamics that manifest in regard to neurodiversity are similar to the social dynamics that manifest in regard to other forms of human diversity. These dynamics include the dynamics of social power inequalities, and also the dynamics by which diversity, when embraced, acts as a source of creative potential.” (Walker, 2014)

In committing to disability justice, we are committing to action beyond comprehension and recognition. To commit wholeheartedly to disability justice is to reorient our understanding of ourselves and the world to embrace an explicitly anti-ableist approach to our work, our personal lives, and our communities. 

This requires that we not only understand disability and recognize ableism, but that we also reconsider the norms, practices, and behaviors that, perhaps inadvertently, uphold and perpetuate ableism. Embodying allyship in service of disability justice requires a commitment to unlearning and relearning, and a consistent dedication to shifting our words and actions in ways that advance disability justice in our own spheres of influence.

As with any form of allyship, it is crucial to center the voices of those most directly impacted by oppression. Sins Invalid is a disability justice performance project that published 10 Principles of Disability Justice in 2015 to serve as a foundational framework for the disability justice movement.

10 Principles of Disability Justice

1. INTERSECTIONALITY: “We do not live single issue lives” - Audre Lorde. Ableism,coupled with white supremacy, supported by capitalism, underscored by heteropatriarchy, has rendered the vast majority of the world “invalid.”
2. LEADERSHIP OF THOSE MOST IMPACTED: “We are led by those who most know these systems.” - Aurora Levins Morales
3. ANTI-CAPITALIST POLITIC: In an economy that sees land and humans as components of profit, we are anti-capitalist by the nature of having non-conforming body/minds.
4. COMMITMENT TO CROSS-MOVEMENT ORGANIZING: Shifting how social justice movements understand disability and contextualize ableism, disability justice lends itself to politics of alliance.
5. RECOGNIZING WHOLENESS: People have inherent worth outside of commodity relations and capitalist notions of productivity. Each person is full of history and life experience.
6. SUSTAINABILITY: We pace ourselves, individually and collectively, to be sustained long term. Our embodied experiences guide us toward ongoing justice and liberation.
7. COMMITMENT TO CROSS-DISABILITY SOLIDARITY: We honor the insights and participation of all of our community members, knowing that isolation undermines collective liberation.
8. INTERDEPENDENCE: We meet each others’ needs as we build toward liberation, knowing that state solutions inevitably extend into further control over lives.
9. COLLECTIVE ACCESS: As brown, black and queer-bodied disabled people we bring flexibility and creative nuance that go beyond able-bodied/minded normativity, to be in community with each other.
10. COLLECTIVE LIBERATION: No body or mind can be left behind – only moving together can we accomplish the revolution we require.

Questions for Independent Reflection:

• How does ableism show up in my life? What am I doing to question or disrupt ableism?
• What are some beliefs/assumptions/values I’ve learned that reinforce ableism? Where did I learn those things? What would it look like to interrupt those beliefs/assumptions/values?
• How might my own intersectional identities influence my response to ableism? 
• Which elements of this toolkit feel illuminating, challenging, and/or affirming to me and why?

Questions for Group Discussion:

• Are there current practices within our community that reinforce ableism? Similarly, are there current practices that disrupt or question ableism?
• Where have we encountered anti-ableist thinking at UMass? What are some ways that we could actively support and/or participate in this work?
• What actions would we like to take as a result of our independent and collective reflection? How will we hold ourselves and one another accountable for the goals we set?

First defined by Columbia University professor of counseling psychology Dr. Derald Wing Sue, microaggressions are "the everyday slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate negative messages to someone based solely upon their marginalized group membership.” When it comes to recognizing microaggressions, it’s important to note that context and relationality matter! The same comment that is well-received by a close friend may land poorly when said to a stranger or professional acquaintance. 

Even when well-intentioned, ableist microaggressions often reinforce inequitable ideas of who is “normal” and who is “other”, and function to remind disabled individuals of the ways in which they are different. Over time, the accumulated impact of microaggressions leads to stress, fatigue, and disconnection that disproportionately affects the disability community.

As we work to be actively anti-ableist, individuals and groups can practice interrogating the messages we’ve received about disability from the wider culture, and noticing how those ideas show up in our thoughts and behaviors. We commonly encounter myths and stereotypes about people with disabilities in our media, schools, workplaces, families, and social networks. These myths and stereotypes impact how we make sense of our own relationship to disability.

As a result, ableism can show up as both interpersonal (when one person directs ableist thinking towards another) and internalized (when a disabled person directs ableist thinking towards themselves). Working to notice and disrupt these inaccurate and harmful narratives is one meaningful way to practice disability justice in our daily lives.

The following table provides examples of how we can unpack and reframe some common ableist attitudes and assumptions:

Resources for Continued Learning & Engagement: Ableism & Anti-Ableis

• Confronting Ableism on the Way to Justice, Learning for Justice (article with additional resources) 
• I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much. Stella Young (TED Talk)
• The Accessible Stall, Kyle Khachadurian and Emily Ladau (podcast)
• #Ableism, Leah Smith, Center for Disability Rights (blog post)
• Tips for communicating with people with disabilities, from California Courts (compilation of resources) 
• Neuroqueer.com, Dr. Nick Walker (collection of videos, essays, and other publications)

Resources for Continued Learning: Best Practices in Accessibility

• Inclusive by Design: A Disability Inclusion Toolkit from UMass President’s Office

• AccessibleU: ADA Compliance Training for Instructors from UMass IDEAS

• Online Meeting Best Practices from UMass IT
• Guidelines for Bias-Free Language from the American Psychological Association

• Accessibility and the Canvas Learning Mgmt System

• Wheelchair Etiquette Training (video with audio description)
• Service Dog Etiquette Training (video with audio description)

Recommended Reads

• Section 6: Ableism in Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, 4th edition
• Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education by Jay Timothy Dolmage
• Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann
•  Ableism: The Causes and Consequences of Disability Prejudice by Michelle Nario-Redmond, Ph.D.

UMass Resources for Students

For disability community on campus:

• Disability Culture Club
• Disability Community Space

For accommodations and support:

• Disability Services
• Disability Housing Accommodations
• Assistive Technology Center

UMass Resources for Staff & Faculty

For disability community on campus:

• UMAIDA (UMass Allies for Illness and Disability Access)
• Alliance Against Ableism (contact alliance@umass.edu for information)

For accommodations and support:

• Accessible Workplace
• Assistive Technology Center