5 Signs You Are Subconsciously Prejudiced Against Disabled People

Ableism — discrimination against disabled people — occurs in many forms, and is often employed without second thought even by people who make great efforts not to discriminate against other marginalized groups on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religious affiliation. 

Could you subconsciously be ableist? Becoming aware of underlying prejudices and discriminatory actions is your first step towards making it stop! 

Do You Ever Do This? You Need To Stop

As a carer to elders with mobility restrictions and occasionally younger people with disabilities, I sometimes go shopping with my customers, I sometimes accompany them to the hospital, and I'm sometimes in their homes when a repair person comes along. I never cease to be astonished about the amount of times they'll speak to me, rather than to the person in charge — to my customers. "I'm just the help, talk to the brain!," has become my standard jocular response, pointing at my customers with a smile as I say it. Oftentimes, the other person will apologize. Occasionally, however, they'll actually continue to address me rather than the person they should be speaking to. 

What's worse, it's not just random people who talk down to disabled people or just don't talk to them at all — I've seen nurses, hospital administrative staff and even doctors do it on occasion. 

Hang on a second, people! Being in a wheelchair, using crutches, being on bed rest or having any other visible disability doesn't strip someone of their autonomy as a human being, nor does it indicate differences in cognitive ability. About that, by the way — people with cognitive differences deserve to be treated with the exact same respect as everyone else.

If you have been guilty of any of these mistakes in the past, it's not too late to change course:

• Interact with the person directly, not with their carer or companion! 
• Interact with the person in a respectful, normal manner!
• DO NOT stoop down to a wheelchair user's level to "look them in the eye" — I've been told over and over again that this isn't appreciated.

Using Disabled Facilities When You Don't Need To

Do you ever park in disabled spaces just because you can? Use toilets made for disabled people? Use a lift when you could be using stairs, causing someone in a wheelchair to have to wait for the next lift? If you look around, it's actually quite astonishing how few accommodations have been put in place for people with disabilities. Don't take away the few that are there!

READ Mobility Restrictions Don’t Mean You Can’t Exercise: Working Out With A Disability

On a related note, though, don't criticize a seemingly able-bodied person for using such facilities either. You don't know their story. People with irritable bowel syndrome or ostomy bags may not "look disabled", for instance, but do frequently finding themselves needing to use disabled restrooms, both for added privacy and clean-up within the stall itself, and because they may otherwise not make to the toilet it in time.

Are You Subconsciously Ableist?

Assuming Someone's Not Disabled When You Can't See It

Do you subconsciously define "disability" as impairments that are apparent to the naked eye or otherwise obvious immediately when you interact with a person? Think again. People with mental illness, with chronic conditions that can't be seen from the outside, with learning disabilities, with cognitive differences, and with autism can all identify as disabled. Not only can the struggles they face impair them, the lack of societal awareness that these people are indeed disabled only adds to them. 

In some cases, stigma surrounding or ignorance of "invisible disabilities" can be so great that people affected by them are denied access to services they need, without even receiving acknowledgment of the fact that they do need these services. We can do better! Don't assume that someone isn't disabled because you can't see it. When someone shares their experiences with their disability, and talks about unmet needs, don't assume that you know better than they do. Instead, listen — really listen — to what they have to say.

Random Disabled People Aren't Your 'Learning Opportunity'

I admit it. I'm a chatty person and I've asked random strangers with visible disabilities what happened to them or what their disability was before. I figured that talking to someone is so much better than staring or awkwardly looking away, as so many people do. Over the years I have learned, however, that people very much don't appreciate it if you treat them as an on-the-spot learning opportunity. "What happened to his legs?", a kid might ask their parent, and that parent — thinking they're being respectful — answers: "I don't know, but you can go ask him. He won't mind."

Remember: When someone is bombarded with these very same questions on a daily basis, it gets old real fast. Asking what happened to someone's legs or why they look like that or, worse, "what's wrong with them" is far less polite even than asking the person in front of you at the checkout counter how much money they earn. Asking people you don't know personal questions isn't nice.

READ What Is Disability? A Radically Different Look At What It Means To Be Disabled

Using Ableist Language

Blind. Dumb. Idiot. Moron. Cripple. Lame.

These words, and many others like them, are frequently used as metaphors. Some of these words are clinical diagnoses, and others have been in the past. It is, in fact, not at all uncommon for disabled people to be called these words to their face. I myself have been present when people shout out "hey, wheelie!" or "cripple!", and I'm sure I don't need to point out how hurtful that is. You're employing ableist language even when you say that "many people are blind to disability discrimination", however, or when you say that coworker of yours is a real moron. Using current or former medical terms (some of which date back to a time when people with those labels were institutionalized in the most inhumane manner) to put people down isn't OK, and it needs to stop.