Accidental Ableism

[Dawn Marcotte]

Here is a link to an article I wrote that was just published on Autism Daily News - Let me know what you think:

Accidental Ableism - Autism Daily Newscast

 

[AsheSkyler]

It generally is a good rule of thumb to try to not to post anything that could be portrayed as embarrassing. It also depends on that person's personal stance. Some people focus on the triumph, some focus on how they weren't able to do it in the past.

 

[DogwoodTree]

Good article...good points. We try to cultivate a "culture of honor" in our household so that even the youngest child is treated with respect and dignity. Posting stuff online about my kids...I always thought about what they would think about it one day if they read it, so that helped me learn how to talk about my kids with honor and integrity.

As my kids have gotten a little bit older (the oldest is 12), I've been surprised that they have an opinion about what stories I can tell about them on facebook. Even if the story honors them, sometimes they don't want me talking about it so publicly. My story is also their story, so I try to respect the boundaries they put in place, even if they're saying "Don't post that on Facebook!" just to practice being able to draw the boundary...it's like they're testing to see if I will respect their boundaries, just like they test if I will keep my own.

 

[OliveOilMom]

I don't think that any of the things in the article are even in the same ball park with refusing to hire or rent to or do business with someone because of a disability. It's a very far stretch and it's an example of the culture of victimhood that is running rampant in our society.

 

[Dawn Marcotte]

I don't think that any of the things in the article are even in the same ball park with refusing to hire or rent to or do business with someone because of a disability. It's a very far stretch and it's an example of the culture of victimhood that is running rampant in our society.

I agree with you and I was not trying to address those issues at all. However there are many levels of discrimination and it is important for all of us to be aware that the more subtle forms can be just as damaging because they can 'slip by' without being recognized.

Thanks for reading the article.

 

[OliveOilMom]

I agree with you and I was not trying to address those issues at all. However there are many levels of discrimination and it is important for all of us to be aware that the more subtle forms can be just as damaging because they can 'slip by' without being recognized.

Thanks for reading the article.

But I don't think talking about autism as if it's a disease is a type of discrimination. Autism is a medical condition that can cause severe problems and limitations, so while it isn't a disease because it's not progressive it's a disorder and those are the same things to most people and in the vernacular. Thinking that more severely autistic people don't feel things a certain way or don't have certain emotions isn't discrimination or ablism, it's lack of knowledge about the condition itself. Pandering on the internet for birthday cards for an autistic child is no different than doing the same thing for any sick or disabled child. It's fairly common, it's not discrimination or ablism, it's just a lack of judgment.

My point is I think many people have become too quick to judge something as discrimination or some type of ism when it's something completely different. I think we need to save the discrimination and ism labels for the more serious things because labeling minor things with these things tends to minimize the serious incidents. When we start hearing discrimination and isms everywhere we turn we become desensitized to them and can easily start categorizing important discrimination such as employment, housing etc as minor because we see so many minor examples.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't be bothered by those types of things, what bothers someone isn't in their control. What I'm saying is that we need to keep them in perspective and call them what they are and save discrimination and isms for serious matters.

Thats just my opinion, and it also encompasses many similar issues, not just autism related topics.

 

[zurb]

The article really seems to be about privacy, respect for others and chosing what to post online, not ableism (and as such the title is somewhat misleading imho). The reference to ableism just sets the context or acts as a jumping off point to the other issues.