Ridiculous Forms Of Ableism
People think that because you are intelligent you can’t be disabled. Or that you aren’t THAT disabled. I’m talking about every kind of person, service providers, physicians, clinicians, first responders, educators, leaders in government, even people whose job it is to work with disabled people. It’s insane that most forms of bigotry in America go ignored, and always have, yet when we call attention to the human rights violations, we are the problem forever!
I can’t count the number of times people have told me that I’m not disabled enough (WTF) or not really disabled because I “seem like” I “can do fine”. You have no idea the obstacles and barriers you place on a disabled person’s life with this kind of bigotry. Or perhaps you do, some are and they do it intentionally because they don’t like the color of my skin, my religion or lack thereof, my job or lack thereof, my political affiliation or lack thereof, my social status or lack thereof, or anything else they want to judge and condemn me for. We live this all our lives but it’s always our own fault because we are perceived as less than and therefore responsible for dealing with all of the fall-out from the violations. Our quality of life suffers no only because we are disabled, but because people believe they can abuse us BECAUSE we are.
We go through things we never talk about, it’s too difficult sometimes. We just figure out how to survive in spite of it. People look at these resiliency and survival skills as proof that we are “faking” disability and abusing the “system”. You have no idea how sickening it is to be accused of harming a xenophobic system that was intentionally designed to destroy me. Instead of the focus being on the system and those who designed it and maintain it, the focus is on why I need to access it to begin with. The need to access assistance is viewed as a criminal activity when your skin is Black so no matter what I do, I’m always guilty. Who can be okay with this?
Isn’t it terrible that we are the most marginalized people in America and “the system” is literally intentionally designed to block us from accessing a full share of public life, resources, and support? For some that is, others are given unlimited support because they are viewed as “deserving”. As long as there are people, everyday people, who have the power to deny your humanity based on their own bias then there will never be equality, democracy, or justice. It’s sad that this “system” has existed the entire life of the United States and morphs according to those with the power to benefit THEM and people are still calling it, and us, fake.
This post was hacked on another site before I could even finish writing it.
