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 ^[1]

Examples of Ableism

The COVID-19 Pandemic

Using Divest McGill as an example, taking over a space for recruitment! We took over space on campus for 3 days, so lots of community building and recruitment was achieved.
Divest McGill made a document to inform incoming members of who the board of directors (the targets) for their campaign were, complete with their names, photos and info on each. Helps new members plug in.
Build relationships with new people. If there’s no response, take your time. Do not organize a meeting too soon after sending a message (allow people to free up their time). Mention an understanding for the lack of time of those who commit.
In my group at university, we had the privilege of having a garden on campus. This was a big plus for students who wanted to come out and join us in the garden. An outdoor space helps with recruitment!
In some schools, a bootcamp (3 day online intensive) to get people up to speed on information, and bring the information to new people, is helpful. The important thing is to keep the relationships!

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 ^[2]

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 ^[3]

Eco-Ableism ^[4]

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.