Ableism

Ableism is "a system that places value on people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, intelligence, excellence and productivity." It determines who is valuable and worthy based on their appearance and/or ability to fulfill what society expects of them. - Talia A. Lewis

Examples of Ableism

The COVID-19 Pandemic

Government and individual responses to the covid-19 pandemic, especially in Western Nations that value capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy, give excellent examples of how ableism can manifest. 

Much discussion around the severity of COVID was lessened by expressing how it mainly sickens and kills elderly, chronically ill, and disabled people. This discourse suggests these groups are seen disposable. When governments loosened COVID restrictions in response to business demands, political pressure, and public impatience, rather than scientific evidence, high risk populations (the chronically ill, disabled and elderly) were subsequently told they are disposable yet again. Regulations around how many sick days should be required when someone falls ill with COVID also demonstrated ableism. In relation to these regulations, and in favour of profit above health, many politicians including US President Joe Biden, praised themselves for working through COVID, instead of encouraging people to rest and recover if they'd fallen ill. 

Individualism also reinforces and relates to ableism, and has been a prominent factor in COVID-19 responses at the government and individual level. Individuals have been encouraged to make 'personal' choices on vaccines, masks and gatherings. Mia Mingus describes this perfectly in her post, 'You are not entitled to our deaths: COVID, Abled Supremacy & Interdependence' saying, "You enjoy connection at the expense of our isolation. Your wants are always more important than our needs. When you choose to gamble with your own health, you only take into consideration your own risks and never the risks of others. Abled entitlement ensures your risk assessment will always be, “if I get sick, I will be able to recover OK. My family will be OK. My children will be OK.” Never, “Will they be OK? Will their children be OK? Will their family be OK? Will everyone they might also interact with be OK?” Never, “Could this harm their neighborhood? Their state? Their country? Their continent?” Shielded by your abled privileged bravado of “it won’t happen to me.”  Never, “Who might I be exposing? I might be OK, but someone else may not.”" - Mia Mingus

In a later section she explains, "There is no individual safety without collective safety and collective safety requires that no one is safe unless everyone is safe." - Mia Mingus

Eco-Ableism

If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.

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