Social Justice Blog: Disabilites, Discrimination And The "R" Word

After reading Adams's chapters pertaining to disabilities and reflecting on experiences where I've come in contact with disabled people, I realized something. I thought a lot about Adams's question in Chapter 100, "Why is American society largely unaware of or indifferent to the plight of people with disabilites?" It hit me that I'm guilty of being largely unaware of the struggles of disabled individuals. While I did stand up for students during my school years who were made fun for being "slow" and I help people with difficulty walking cross the street, I feel that my knowledge and understanding of this subject is quite superficial. Nonetheless, this week's course readings brought to light many topics that I'm trying to educate myself more about.

There is no doubt that our society is ableist. This is reinforced by the misconception many Americans have that disability doesn't constitute a serious category of oppression. People fail to see the number of difficulties disabled individuals undergo, including rape, sexual abuse, domestic violence, and incest in homes, private locations, and public institutions. Chapter 100 couldn't be more accurate in its claim that society often overlooks the struggles of disabled people. The chapter discusses how students pour over the subject of race in their textbooks and read the work of multicultural writers in high school and college. While we acknowledge that racism exists in our society, we don't realize that we are ableist. Honestly, I felt guilty after thinking how true this statement is. I pride myself on being open-minded and informed about different types of people, however, I've never in my life read the work of disabled poets, deaf writers, or parapeligic artists. I really wish American schools would bring to our notice the significance of these people and their contributions to society.

It blows my mind that 72 percent of people with disabilities are unemployed and their income is half the national average. The poverty rate among working-age adults with disabilities is almost 3 times that of those without impairments. One-third of all disabled children live in poverty and 90 to 98 percent of discrimination cases brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act by people with disabilites have been lost in court (Adams, 482). Upon reading these statistics, I was dumbfounded. There's no doubt that we focus more on the struggles of certain minority groups than others. Although as a woman of color I've experienced discrimination, I realize I'm more than privileged since I'm not disabled. I don't experience the high degrees of ridicule, ostracism, scorn, and neglect that disabled individuals face on a day-to-day basis. From here on out, I will make a conscious effort to be more mindful of this population and its struggles.

An important step toward being more sensitive toward and understanding of the needs of disabled people is social awareness. Whether it's parents teaching their children to be more compassionate or companies empathizing more with their disabled employees, awareness is key in moving forward. A great example of this would be my mom's insistence that my brother and I refrain from using the word "retarded" from a young age. I remember when I was in elementary school, I heard other kids refer to each other as "retards" if someone did something they considered unintelligent. Upon hearing this word thrown around on a regular basis, I remember as a naive 10 year-old I once called my brother retarded during a fight. My mom immediately chastized me for this and explained the implications of this word. A couple of months later at a family reunion, I met an autistic second cousin of mine. I was able to put two and two together and I realized why it was wrong to throw around the word "retarded."

On Friday, May and I were interviewing people in Northeast Austin regarding economic disparities in relation to education. As we went from house to house, we came across an elderly man sitting on his front porch smoking a cigarette. He was very friendly and willing to talk when we asked him if we could interview him. He educated us about the difficulties in the neighborhoods off of St. Johns Avenue and Berkman Drive. As an elderly African-American man who had lived in this neighborhood his entire life, he offered a very interesting perspective. After speaking for a bit about the escalation in violent crimes, drugs, and gang-banging in the neighborhood, he talked about himself. I then asked him about his life now and what he does. He stated that he is retired, elderly, disabled, and "doesn't do anything anymore."

Although he said it with a laugh, this statement made me uneasy. No one should have to spend their days feeling unproductive and useless due to a disability. This man's story resonated with something I read in Chapter 100. Oftentimes, when there is a person of color who happens to be disabled, people often attribute that person's difficulties to his/her being a person of color. They rarely acknowledge disablity as a factor in influencing one's struggles. However, after reading this chapter it occurred to me that this man may in fact face a high level of discrimination and ostracism due to his status as a disabled individual in addition to being African-American. The bottom line is that disabilities shouldn't be overlooked and society should do a better job of being understanding of the needs of disabled people. Disability can be just as much of a struggle as racism, sexism, homophobia, etc and it is up to us that ALL members of subordinate groups in our society recieve support and are advocated for.