Can we talk about the way people treat disabled people? All disabled people? Can we talk about:
- bending down with their hands on their knees to talk to wheelchair users?
- talking over our heads like we aren’t there?
- gaslighting us based on our disabilities (lol you don’t know what abuse is, you’re autistic, etc)?
- making accessibility sound like we’re being difficult?
Etc.
I am too tired to add more, help me out?
Making accessibility sound like a luxury instead of a right
Blaming people for their disabilities (rather than acknowledging that their status as able bodied as being temporary; disabilities can happen to anyone)
Using disabilities as insults
Staring when we use mobility devices (particularly if you’re younger)
Equate chronic fatigue to laziness
Talking to disabled people in a “slow” or child-like voice
Acting like disabled people can’t make decisions for ourselves/making all our decisions for us, even minor ones
Mistreatment/abuse under the guise of “we’re just trying to help you/it’s for your own good”
Acting like all disabled people can do x thing because one disabled person did it and condemning people who can’t as “lazy” or “unwilling” or something like that.
On that note, “inspiration porn” of disabled people doing things in general.
Deciding what’s best for disabled people without actually asking them for any input whatsoever
Denial of accomadations you “don’t need”, despite only recently figuring out you need those accomadations in the first place, due to ablebodied/neurotypical people not teaching you anything about your disabilites
Making trauma disabled people go through into a joke
People literally trying to snatch canes from younger folks with invisible illnesses (I cannot even begin to tell you how often this happens to me)
Making it cost prohibitive to get the physical therapy that has been shown to reduce the pain caused by disabilities