We need to be able to talk about “discrimination against people with disabilities” in shorter, pithier ways than saying “discrimination against people with disabilities.” That phrase takes half a tweet!
But even as a special education advocate, I avoid the term “ableist” and “ableism” because people are confused by it. Even among disability rights advocates, some argue the ableism is only applied for people with physical disabilities (as opposed to “able”-bodied) while others would say it covers all disabilities.
I asked my kids the other night if they know what ableism is. They didn’t. They obviously didn’t learn it in school… or from me. Friends and neighbors? Only a few knew. When I defined it, some were outright confused.
I felt a moment of guilt. I’m a special education advocate. I spend my days fighting “ableism” and yet I’m not even using the word. Why? In fairness, I find it confusing too… and I simply don’t want to confuse people. Special education is confusing enough.
Ableism is confusing. How about Dissism? #dissism
With the term “ableism,” the English language is working against us. When word-building, “-ism” often means “the practice of” and it is often used to convert an action into a noun. Baptism is when you baptize someone. By analogy, it would sound like ableism gives someone ability… which would seem a good thing.
A second use of the -ism is to denote a system, principle, or ideological movement. Someone who practices Confucianism believes in the teachings of Confucius. Again, we have a problem: Does someone who practices ableism simple believe in ability? Does that sound so bad?
I understand from where the word ableism was modeled:
Racism is prejudicial (i.e. unfair) differentiation based on race.
Sexism is prejudicial (i.e. unfair) differentiation based on sex.
But that unfair pre-judging connotation is not a built-in part of the Latin roots; it is something that we have come to understand as a society. And the word ableism… just doesn’t sound as bad as it is. I think this is why:
In fighting racism, we say, “Don’t judge people based on race. Judge people based on ability!”
In fighting sexism, we say, “Don’t judge people based on sex or gender. Judge people based on ability!”
Then along comes ableism and it sounds like we’re saying, “Don’t judge based on ability! Judge people based on… Oh… um… wait…”
But that’s not really the message of those who are fighting ableism. Evaluating ability doesn’t make you evil, it just makes you the HR department (Insert catbert jokes here). We object to “ableism” as the prejudicial (unfair) treatment of people based on the presumption that able-bodied is better. We’re fighting a culture of discrimination, not the measurement of ability. But again, to use ableism in the narrow sense of the word (able-bodied) leaves people with learning disabilities (mental, not physical) no word at all.
Another problem: In our schools, “discrimination” has a certain legal connotation. Discrimination is actionable. Discrimination risks termination, a loss of funding, or lawsuits. As a consequence, our schools almost NEVER admit to discrimination or even talk about it out loud as existing in their own hallways, even though it is rampant. And the refusal to admit when it even happens has the effect of passively approving it. The word “discrimination” often shuts down a conversation. Do we need to use it? Yes. But we also need a way to talk about the day-to-day disrespect people with disabilities suffer, not just the violations of their legal rights.
So… I think we need a new word. A non-legal word. But an ugly word. A word that instantly conveys “Hey, that’s not right!” which we can toss out when disrespect towards people with disabilities is evident.
My suggestion: dissism.
For my generation, to “diss” someone is to disrespect them, which captures the feeling immediately. And all those ss’s feel like a hiss, which conveys the diabolical and insidious nature of discrimination so much more than ableism. Plus, there is just so much “dis” in the discussion of disabilities.
Dissism: the practice of disrespecting, disregarding, dismissing, displacing or discriminating against people with disabilities. #dissism
Dissist: An adjective that describes a person or activity that disrespects, disregards, displaces, dismisses or discriminates against people with disabilities. #dissist
Now let’s put that word into real use:
Saying someone struggles with reading because they are black is racist.
Saying someone struggles with math because they are a girl is sexist.
Saying someone struggles with reading because they are dyslexic? Well, that’s part of the definition of the word. And we WANT to know they are dyslexic so that we can apply the right interventions and curriculum to help them.
But saying that having dyslexia means you can never learn to read? Dissist.
Denying a person with dyslexia the reading intervention they need? Dissist.
Pretending dyslexia does not exist? Treating dyslexic students as if they are lazy or stupid? Refusing to give them audiobooks to access curriculum faster? Refusing to let them attend an AP class for Physics while getting special education for reading? Not accommodating them with extra time to read? Dissist. Dissist. Dissist. Dissist. Dissist.
A shocking number of educators seem to think that identifying that a student has a disability – they call it “labeling”— is the problem; it’s NOT. If you have to pretend black people aren’t black in order to treat them well, you are racist. If you have to pretend students don’t have a disability in order to treat them well, you are dissist.
Disability rights activists are not asking you to ignore disability or pretend it doesn’t exist or even claim that it is irrelevant to lived experience. We’re not even asking the world to stop evaluating people based on ability. Quite the contrary; we understand that you have to evaluate student’s skills if you want to help them properly.
We want you to empower people with disabilities to be as functionally able as possible.
We want you to teach children with disabilities the skills they need so that they can be college and career ready and attain reasonable levels of independence.
We want you to not disrespect, dismiss, disregard, displace or dismiss people with disabilities. We ask you not to make assumptions based on disability. We ask you to consider their needs and make things accessible to them. We ask you to include them. We ask you not to pre-judge their future or place your pre-conceived limits on their opportunities. We ask you not to have low expectations. We ask you to give them an equal opportunity. We want you to stop assuming that having a disability means they will “never” be able to achieve something; we ask you to help them develop the skills they need. We want you to stop assuming that, just because they struggle with one thing, they can’t achieve others.
We are asking you: Don’t be dissist. And open your eyes to dissism around you.
We need to talk about disability discrimination. We need a word for it that makes sense to our children and neighbors.
#dissism does not exist in the Twitterverse. We can own this word. Who’s with me? Can we get this word added to the Webster’s dictionary?
Shall we start a cultural revolution? Go post something with the word dissism. Use the hastag #dissism or #stopdissism. Let me know what you think in the comments below.