Overthrowing Ableism
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Helping family members and professionals become better allies to people with disabilities.
09/04/2024
About a week ago, the AP Stylebook posted a reminder that journalists should avoid using disability euphemisms like "special needs" and "special education." Followers quickly pointed out that this guidance - without alternatives or examples - would be hard to put into everyday day practice.
This little guide doesn't address all possible examples, nor does it represent the preferences of all disabled folks -- but as a writer who has spent a lot of time navigating euphemistic language, I hope it helps.
ID: Series of slides sharing the original Facebook post, response, and examples of how to revise writing that includes "special needs" or "special education." Individual slides are also transcribed into the image captions.
01/25/2023
Awareness of how people with different neurotypes may approach social interaction can do a lot to reduce bias.
This series, from (Instagram) looks at the ways some autistic people search for and insert detail into conversations.
While being stopped for questions or interrupted to explore nuance may be frustrating to more neurotypical communicators, you can also look at this from a strengths perspective -- these details and nuances can enrich your understanding AND create connection between you and your autistic communication partner.
Note: Images are described in captions to the original post from I CAN Network Ltd.
CW: The parody video included in this post uses curse words. While the closed captioning is censored, the audio is not.
The term, "inspiration p**n," was developed by the late disability activist and comedian, Stella Young. This type of media features disabled people and its sole purpose is to inspire a nondisabled audience.
One of the most common questions I get is how you can tell the difference between inspiration p**n and a thoughtful representation. Stella Young's now-viral TED Talk offers a great litmus test for this - namely, "how does the disabled person feel about their 'achievement'?"
Young tells the story of how, as a teen, she was offered a community achievement award when she "wasn't really doing anything you would consider an achievement if you took disability out of the equation." Like Young (and the rest of us for that matter), people with disabilities are living their lives and doing the best they can. It's not inspirational - it's life.
Representation, on the other hand, is recognizing a person for the work they do without turning it into a spectacle. In this parody video, representation would be an interview where the team assistant talks about the work he does and what it means to him (not setting him up for the game-winning throw). Representation is listening to the voices and stories of people with disabilities - directly from them.
(Stella Young's TED Talk, where she introduced the term and tells the story of the community achievement award can be viewed on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SxrS7-I_sMQ)
Video description: Parody of a common inspiration p**n storyline, where a disabled teammate is given the ball for a game-winning score. In this case, the disabled hero has been replaced with a nondisabled person and the teammates are all disabled. The parody ends with the nondisabled teammate missing the throw and everyone being disappointed.
01/11/2023
Ableism is very real, but the reasons behind it are based on a myth. Learn more about the myth and how you can flip the script on ableism.
ID: Series of images entitled, "What is ableism and how does it happen?" Individual images are described in the captions.
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