I am autistic.
I was the girl who could spin for several minutes on end without getting dizzy. I was the girl who couldn't stand the texture of mashed potatoes or certain fabrics but could could get a shot without so much as even flinching. I was th...
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Examples not limited to ableism towards autism:
"They just got up from their wheelchair! What a miracle."
"It's all in your head."
"Stop fidgeting and pay attention."
"Oh my gosh, this stimming toy just distracts me it doesn't help me at all! I, a neurotypical, do not recommend!"
"I love my child, but I hate their autism!"
"Disabled people get special treatment! Look, they have their own parking places everywhere!"
The list could go on and on.
Ableism is harmful because:
1. It dismisses the problems that disabled people face on a daily basis
2. It dismisses the fact that, while a disabled person may seem to function normally, that they cannot always function like that
3. It paints disabled people as lazy, dumb, slow, etc., when disabilities do not mean that disabled people are those things
4. Points to famous disabled people and says, "Look, they did a,b, c despite their disabilities! You can too!"
5. Dismisses accomplishments and progress that disabled people do make with their disabilities because they aren't "good enough" or "big enough" or "everyone can do that"
6. Complains that disabled people are accommodated for "too much" when, in reality, disabled people accommodate for abled people more than what they are accommodated for
7. Teaches disabled people that they don't deserve lives or a place within society because they aren't "productive" due to their disabilities
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Etc.
Ableism is NOT a "first world" issue, especially since the lives of disabled people are constantly devalued. Disabled people may not be facing a holocaust like they did during Hitler's Third Reich, but:
67-85% of preborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted every year in the United States, 90% in Britain, 98% in Denmark, and it's up to 100% in Iceland.
Many people sympathize with people who murder their disabled children.
An estimated half of all victims of police brutality are disabled.
Disabled people are 2.5 times more likely to be victims of violent crimes than abled people.
There are virtually no existing statistics on the correlation between disabilities and suicide or autism and suicide.
Ableism unwittingly encourages eugenics, euthanasia, and abortion.
More than 40% of homeless people in America are disabled.
The blame for the cause of autism goes to vaccines, which has caused thousands of children to become infected with preventable diseases.
In conclusion, ableism causes great harm to disabled people.
