ABILITY & DISABILITY

Psychology

Client Name

University Name

Ability & Disability

Ableism is prejudice against the disabled. Here, “prejudice” is essentially the same thing we mean when we’re talking about racism or sexism, except that it’s leveled against people with disabilities. The video shows how people with disabilities are casually passed over for jobs, for housing. Conditions in assisted-living facilities and nursing homes vary randomly from decent to nightmarish. Even people with mild disabilities are stigmatized, often (ironically) because they are expected to act as though they are non-disabled, refused help, and then judged for failing.

The video have me realize how we disregard people been disabilities in our everyday life without realizing the huge impact that it has over their lives. People with disabilities are humans as well and we all must realize that disable people are actually the ones who are differently abled and not look at them as people who only deserve sympathy. Ableism concept dictates how labeling the disabled has a huge impact over their life as they have to face discrimination only on account of all thing which they have no control over. I was shocked to know that in their everyday life they have to fight over issues that none of us have to even think about in our entire life span. The issue of equal rights in education employment and accessibility to resources is a major issue for disabled fellows as they are treated as second class citizens with no rights.

The video showed me that such people are more than often treated as puzzles for an enigma instead of seeing them as important members of the society with skills and intellect equivalent to people who are not disabled. The shared statistics in the video e.g. High School graduation rates for students with disabilities is 57%, 72% of people with disabilities are unemployed, those that are employed earn an income that is half the national average surprised me because I had never thought of the disabled people facing so many difficulties and struggling to earn survive in the community. It is particularly astonishing how even the children with disabilities struggle as far as access to education is concerned. The graduation rate for 60 students is also very low as compared to their counterparts. However, it is essential to realize that the graduation rate has been low not because of their repressed mental and intellectual abilities but because these people are treated with fear.

History shows how ableism can be very subtle; for example, calling somebody “inspirational” for getting married when they have a disability, thus implying that people with disabilities don’t deserve to fall in love and get married. On the same grounds, it can be really extreme, such as the mass murder in Sagamihara, Japan, in which an (ex)-employee of an assisted living facility stabbed 19 residents to death because they were disabled, and he thought the world was better off without them.

There’s a lot of middle ground, of course, between the subtle, unintentional stuff and the straight-out genocide. I don't know about any articles or any serious defenses of ableism, but I believe that different ableist viewpoints and practices at various levels (individual, institutional, and cultural show that disabled are feared because such people are different. It's been documented time and again that people like other people like them and dislike or even fear people who are different than them. Thus, I believe that such people face severe discrimination only on the account that people fear them because they are different and overcome by fear might rule these people out as important members of the community who can play an effective rule in shaping the future of their society with their intellect.

References

Hehir, T. (2002). Eliminating ableism in education. Harvard educational review, 72(1), 1-33.

Hehir, T. (2007). Confronting ableism. Educational Leadership, 64(5), 8-14.

Wolbring, G. (2008). The politics of ableism. Development, 51(2), 252-258.