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

Institutionalize involvement	We've been trying to give university credits for participation in activism. We’re connecting our actions to some curriculum One of the things we did was to target the leaders of different groups on campus (ex.: President of the Communications club). We promoted our campaign as an opportunity for these people to gain experience in organizing.
Engage with student association/student body	As student executives you have a very short period of organization. There is a lack of connection between the student body and the board body. We need to hold our student representatives accountable. There is a disconnect between what the admin does, what the association does, and what the student body does. Universities are not really democratic, and student associations are not listened to enough. Students don't want to get involved in their association because they think it doesn't represent them... but to create a real student democracy and get the gains we want, we need students to invest in their association.
Get teachers to support your campaign(s)	Contact your faculty's student association directly before proposing that professors support the campaign. If the association supports, it will be easier to get the information you need (for example, if there are exams during an action). If emails don't work (no response), go directly to their students during their classes (with a nice smile!) Professors may also hold institutional memory that they can pass along to students, knowledge sharing.
Outline institutions within your school	It would be helpful for groups to outline how boards, senate etc. at the university work, to provide this info for incoming members.
Get support from staff unions	Go to the teachers' unions to get more support for the campaign. Also, you can talk to the unions of support staff on campus. In the case of Occupy for example, the union was in solidarity with the students, so the process of taking down tents and things occupying the space was longer.
Create solidarity with staff causes	Combine your cause with things that faculty support. Create solidarity between the student body and faculty (Divest campaigns can be tied to faculty pension funds, for example). Talk to more progressive faculty who might be able to provide insight on history of the student movement on campus

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

Eco-ableism refers to the ways ableism is reproduced within climate activism. This is especially present in the push for individual solutions (i.e. single-use plastic bans and veganism). For some people, adopting these environmental changes would actually put their lives at risk.

For example, many disabled people rely on disposable plastic straws to consume liquids. Metal alternatives can cause serious to disabled people (consider the possibility of impairment, or the challenge to sanitize). Alternatives may cause allergies, be unpositionable, or dissolve in hot liquids. 

Many disabled people also rely on convenience items. Some people cannot prepare food or cook for themselves. Some people rely on internet shopping, and while many companies aren’t doing their part to reduce package waste, this isn’t the fault of disabled people that rely on this for their needs. Other people rely on wet wipes to clean themselves because of a limited ability to shower. For many disabled people, they rely on a restricted diet due to food intolerances or challenges with swallowing, for example. This means following a vegan diet is not possible. 

Fighting against eco-ableism requires including the needs of disabled people in these conversations, and recognizing that meeting their needs to survive is not the cause of climate destruction.

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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