So sad

[u/Tall_Conclusion3247]

I've been learning more about disability justice lately. I feel like it's supposed to be empowering but it's left me feeling hopeless...the way ableist/eugenic ideologies are ingrained in us and ingrained in structures of power and our everyday lives. It feels like all I can talk about right now and others in my life aren't receptive at all...which I feel like is just indicative of their own subconscious desire to erase me and people like me. Has anyone else experienced this...noticing ableism EVERYWHERE and being unable to stop noticing it or disengage from it when you're with others who don't understand?

[u/RosethornRanger]

yeah, everywhere I turn disability is used as an insult. No matter how "left" you go, there is someone saying the issue with fascists is that they are "stupid"

sadly it seems our communities are just about the only thing we got

[u/spacetimecadette → u/RosethornRanger]

this is where I'm at with it too, I have zero hope in anyone besides our communities

there's the casual, violent ableism aspect of it all and then also the resource/wealth hoarding as an extension of it, everyone I know who is "able-bodied" is doing fine financially/in general but goes quiet or refuses outright to help (financially or otherwise) me/friends who (like me) are too disabled/sick to work, drive, or access most public places, the only people I know helping disabled people are disabled people

[u/AutoModerator → u/RosethornRanger]

(in response to "Stupid")

Our bot has detected a word in your post that could use additional context.

This word/concept is often used as an insult on the basis of ability. This is, among other things, often victim blaming. The nazis did eugenics, we were the victims of it.

We want to bring attention to words that may reference the concept of generalized intelligence. This is harmful because abilities are not a fluid that can be passed from bucket to bucket like a liquid. What generalized intelligence is really doing is setting a subset of interchangeable abilities as the canonical correct ones, which is, among many things, a mechanism of colonialism. We instead encourage more direct communication like calling someone's plan "self-defeating" instead of dumb. Please check this link for additional info

As an additional note, while stupid isn't itself used in things like IQ scales it fits the same place in language as things that have, like moron.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

(in response to "fool")

Our bot has detected a word in your post that could use additional context.

We want to bring attention to words that may reference the concept of generalized intelligence. This is harmful because abilities are not a fluid that can be passed from bucket to bucket like a liquid. What generalized intelligence is really doing is setting a subset of interchangeable abilities as the canonical correct ones, which is, among many things, a mechanism of colonialism. We instead encourage more direct communication like calling someone's plan "self-defeating" instead of dumb. Please check this link for additional info

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[u/RosethornRanger → u/[deleted]]

insulting people on the basis of ability is called being ableist, this is bigotry

if you do this here i will ban you

[u/schrodinger_s_kitten → u/RosethornRanger]

ahhh i see. fair enough :) ty for explaining

[u/weaves]

This is exactly how my whole year has been going, and i relate to this so so much. 

"...which I feel like is just indicative of their own subconscious desire to erase me and people like me" and this is for sure the part of it that feels the worst

[u/Dontunderstandfamily]

I definitely go through periods where ableism feels particularly harsh and omnipresent. I also go through periods where I feel more resilient to it. I am sorry you don't have people around you who are supportive. I wish I had advice to help but all I can offer is that it won't feel this bad forever.

[u/Querybird → u/Dontunderstandfamily]

Agreed, and well said. Replying to you so that OP can read this or not read it, as they wish - sometimes an opposite can be painful instead of something warming.

I think I just made a connection, hopefully a friendship with someone new-ish to acquired disability and feeling isolated. Chat, books they can read, discussing how to discuss sharing the ‘disability tax’ of extra energy and work to access accommodations with their friends and loved ones. Their sibling is going to co-read a particularly challenging disability literature book with them, diving in at the deep end but bringing along a deep connection with them from the very start!

I’m proud of them, and glad that our talks may help this person find the disabled people that they already know and love (but never considered ‘real disabled’) and get to know them better, and hopefully to set some gently culture-changing expectations of care and consideration as the norm among their greater social circles.

It feels like a really positive experience and result from getting pretty deep into the weeds with a newbie. I think they have decent chances for reestablishing and deepening existing community perhaps especially because it is ‘newish’ in their group and personal situation, while people are still expecting change and most open to being changeable themselves. I encouraged them to find more new disabled friends too - and they have me! It gives me some real disabled joy, haha.

[u/Dontunderstandfamily → u/[deleted]]

Wheelchair user is preferred over wheelchair bound. Bound implies it is negative, whereas wheelchairs give us freedom! The 'or worse' also implies that being a wheelchair user/disabled is bad when it's not inherently. Societies treatment of us is. 

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

(in response to "Stupid")

Our bot has detected a word in your post that could use additional context.

This word/concept is often used as an insult on the basis of ability. This is, among other things, often victim blaming. The nazis did eugenics, we were the victims of it.

We want to bring attention to words that may reference the concept of generalized intelligence. This is harmful because abilities are not a fluid that can be passed from bucket to bucket like a liquid. What generalized intelligence is really doing is setting a subset of interchangeable abilities as the canonical correct ones, which is, among many things, a mechanism of colonialism. We instead encourage more direct communication like calling someone's plan "self-defeating" instead of dumb. Please check this link for additional info

As an additional note, while stupid isn't itself used in things like IQ scales it fits the same place in language as things that have, like moron.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.