Please stop making disabled people invisible

[Shankapotomus]

It seems to be all the rage today to think and state, as a whole, ALL WHITES and ALL WHITE MALES can never suffer as much as a person of color, woman or anyone from the LGBT community.

That is not true.

Able-bodied African Americans, women or LGBT's today do not, as a whole, suffer more or are as invisible, in comparison, to the disabled of any stripe or color. Especially, when you keep lumping some disabled people in with privileged white males and effectively make their suffering, disability and demographic invisible.

There is nothing privileged about being disabled. And your color or gender does not help you.

Please stop making disabled people invisible.

[Politicub]

1. Is there an impetus for this post?

Because it doesn't help anyone's cause to pit one oppressed group against another.

I agree with you about how the disabled should not be invisible. It was heartening for NBC to air footage from the Special Olympics over the weekend and to have a thoughtful segment about using the damaging r-word. That's a change for the better.

With that being said, having an oppression spectrum may be an interesting intellectual exercise, but it doesn't do anything for meaningful change.

[whatthehey]

3. The irony is that the OP is complaining about the same "spectrum"

Few people start off replies to threads about racial or sexuality-based discrimination with similar posts to yours though. It seems the OP has a point.

[Shankapotomus]

4. ^This /nt

[meow2u3]

2. Disabled people ought to become more militant in demand equal rights

People with invisible disabilities, i.e., disabilities that don't require assistive devices, suffer even more at the hands of larger society because the public assumes there's nothing wrong with them because they don't use a cane, a wheelchair, a scooter, or crutches. We're constantly told we're faking our conditions and making all this up not only to get attention, but also to get out of working and live off the government because we're lazy and perpetrating a fraud on the government. These conspiracy theories come especially from the far right, but they're infecting the general public with this pack of lies!

Tell that to someone suffering from major depression, where it's a monumental feat just to do everyday chores. Tell that to a person with chronic back pain or arthritis, whose every step is taken in agony. Tell that to a diabetic who has to monitor his or her blood sugar, eat a certain way and at set times, or exercise regularly or face horrible complications. Tell that to someone with severe ADHD, who can't concentrate on stuff that bores them and zones out without even realizing it.

To all the naysayers trying to keep disabled people invisible and cut off from society: Just keep telling us we're making all this shit up to scam the system. Who died and make you the leading authority on disability?

[The Green Manalishi]

5. Damn Right! Tell it to the hearing impaired

People sometimes think we're stupid. OH, I'll just speak for myself, but the fact I have to look at lips closely or don't get what someone is saying if the hold their hand in front of their mouth or turn away when then 'talk' (mumble)...

ANY asshole, black, white, asian, hispanic, in a wheelchair, in a limo- who DOESN'T repeat themselves when I politely say 'I'm hard of hearing, what did you say again?" and just says "Oh, Never Mind" ceases to be a member of homo sapiens as far as I am concerned.

People are rude as hell to the hard of hearing and there seem to be ZERO difference in the ratio of jerks to actual humans in any racial, gender or economic demographic.

[Shankapotomus]

7. Yep. The disabled can get it from all sides at once

They have no racial or gender demographic to run to for understanding.

[Shankapotomus]

6. You're absolutely right

And that is not even scratching the surface in terms of the layer and degrees of disability out there. Imagine insinuating someone going through life without arms or legs is privileged.

[Disabled15]

8. Yes I feel very invisible unless I'm in public and being stared at

Posted this a couple places to let others know what really happened. Speakers for hours talking about how social security helped them, especially those of color. Then, well you know what happened in Seattle....

"Being disabled in Seattle, this incident greatly upset me. The event was a very expensive celebration for Social Security. These young girls must be very ignorant of what that means, or extremely rude. The disabled comprise all colors and walks of life. The majority of us live in extreme poverty. We experience discrimination every day. We understand BLM and what they stand for. We too, have had many disabled people murdered by police. We are their allies. To interrupt one of the very few opportunities we ever have to get together and have people recognize us, is just so disappointing. We would never dream of wheeling up to their stage and taking over. We are also oppressed and sympathize. Please remember this. This was not a political rally it was a celebration and a way to share ideas to get us out of poverty. I wish the press would recognize this. The disabled are young and old and come from every race, religion, and sexual orientation. We deserve respect too.
I'm still waiting to hear what Bernie has to say about the disabled."

Crickets. All they talked about was BLM. I'm also still waiting for anyone to care.

[Shankapotomus]

10. The fact that you haven't posted here before

and yet you are silently watching all this happening before you shows the invisibility of the disabled.

"I'm still waiting to hear what Bernie has to say about the disabled."

I guess that's what happens when people are willing to trample over anyone to hog the spotlight with their agenda as if they are the only ones who are suffering. And then when you protest to their blindness of you, you get smeared with the racist label to boot.

Welcome to DU. Wish it could be under better circumstances and with a more understanding liberal community but it's not.

[Disabled15]

12. Yes, new here

I just discovered this site recently. Thanks for the welcome.
Believe me, this event has reawakened me. I am forming a group and I hope others do the same.

[Disabled15]

14. Ps

And when I said I was still waiting to hear Bernie's discussion on the disabled, it was meant to show the dichotomy. His homepage is now filled with BLM stuff after that incident. Nothing about the disabled. I have written tons and will keep the pressure on without being rude.

[Depaysement]

26. Welcome to DU

Please stay. Raise your voice. Voice your concerns.

Glad you're here!

[jwirr]

24. +1 My disabled brother and my disabled daughter are both severely

disabled and cannot speak for themselves so I will.

[kcr]

9. You're right, it's not true

Because that is a complete distortion. It is not all the rage to think or say that white people cannot suffer as much. That is a mis characterization of white privilege. I believe you're genuine in your OP, but how do you think this comes across to those who believe white privilege is real? I'm sure you must realize there are DUers who are also disabled who fall in that category.

[Shankapotomus]

11. White Privilege Is Real

But white privilege is a meaningless concept to a disabled person. White privilege is dependent upon you fitting in and conforming to other cultural expectations and norms, which the disabled traditionally have been prevented from doing due to cultural ignorance and just straight up rejection.

[kcr]

13. No, white privilege is meaningless to you because you are confused as to what it is.

White privilege is dependent on no such thing. White privilege only needs one thing. Being white.

I am in no way saying that cultural ignorance of the disabled does not exist, or that being white makes any of it better, or that the two issues don't overlap in any way. In fact, I don't think such cultural rejection can be stressed enough. I think the social structures that prop up white and class privilege also make it worse for the disabled.

[meow2u3]

15. So is able-bodied and neurotypical* privilege

*a.k.a., "normal."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotypical

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentalism_%28discrimination%29

[uppityperson]

17. That is not quite right. White privilege is dependent on skin color. Period.

There are other factors for any individual beyond skin color, but white privilege is dependent on skin color.

Other factors that influence other's acceptance/rejection/treatment of any individual can include gender, age, height/weight proportion, disability, accent, etc.

[uppityperson]

16. While you have a point about making disabled people invisible, you seem to be confused as to what

the term Privilege means. It does not mean "ALL WHITES and ALL WHITE MALES can never suffer as much as a person of color, woman or anyone from the LGBT community" or that any individual will never suffer as much as any other individual, but that in general as a whole males and whites have a certain amount of institutional privilege due to their gender and/or skin color.

It is true that there is not enough knowledge of or acceptance of people with disabilities. I have experienced it directly with my hearing loss, John Williams in Seattle was shot by an asshole cop in part because of his hearing loss. A friend with MS started carrying a cane, even though is 30, so people would quit thinking she was drunk in public. With the cane, she is more likely to have people step out of her way rather than bumping into her, open doors rather than ignore her. People without noticeable disabilities who park in handicapped parking get shit on by the public and by police (there was a vid out this week from a vet getting hassled by cop and being really pissed about it).

Now back to the comparison of who suffers most. I don't understand the need to say "me, as a person, suffers more than you do". I see you write "as a whole", but then talk about "some" or "a person", negating the institutionalized privilege thing.

Maybe I miss the point, would be glad to have you clarify to help me understand better.

[Disabled15]

19. Seattle?

Hello Uppityperson are you in Seattle?
If you, or anyone else, in Seattle area are passionate about disability rights, please contact me.
I am new on here, but I believe you can send me a private message.
I am trying to get a group together.
Thanks!

[Shankapotomus]

20. I know I still have to answer you, uppity.

Last edited Sat Aug 15, 2015, 07:07 AM - Edit history (6)

My apologies. Hopefully I'll get to it before you've moved on to other topics.

But I've been kind of sapped of any energy or motivation for respoonding by the heat here recently and not very motivated to post.

Well, maybe I can manage a quick answer here.

I don't want to enter the "who suffers more?" competition.

But there are people in the liberal community using labels such as "white" and "male" in such a way that it minimizes and trivializes the issues the disabled are facing, who fall under those labels by default, by constantly making broad gender and racial comparisons. Whites and white males, for instance are routinely cast, solely because of their color and gender, as incapable of understanding the kind of suffering or social injustice that AA and women endure and are therefore disqualified from even making a comment about it, or worse, attacked for even agreeing with and defending PoC or women.

That's like telling an AA or women they may be able to experience individual suffering worse than some but they are, after all human and humans get special privileges. It totally negates the experience of AA and women. That's what they are doing to the disabled. They're saying "you may be disabled but you're white and/or male, so shut up." Human suffering is universal. The labels that we suffer under and because of are really minor details compared to an individual's knowledge and experience. When we talk about AA suffering or women's suffering or disabled suffering we're really talking about human suffering. And we're all humans so, to me, that makes us, to the degree of our personal experience with suffering, all qualified to talk about.

But we're not talking individual or personal suffering when it comes to the disabled. The disabled are an entire demographic, just as AA's and women, and this kind of thinking is negating the issues of an entire demographic.

[uppityperson]

21. Thanks for the long reply. I think we are pretty much in agreement, just discussing it

I've a friend, male, white, young adult, who was in an abusive relationship. He sought help and there was no shelter, no help beyond a phone number given which ended up being "are you afraid you might hit your partner" place. He does not understand how white male privilege helped him. It took a while to get across the difference between an individual and the larger institutionalized, societal, issue.

There are people playing libraler than thou, or "suffering more than thou". There are some who try to compartmentalize people and miss the larger individual bits, and that we all belong to many different groups. This is not meant to trivalize any individual's treatment, or the larger societal/institutionalized issue.


I am very open about my hearing loss, hoping to help others who may have the same problem see that it isn't demeaning to wear hearing aids. Also to make sure those who don't have the same problem see that it isn't demeaning, just part of who I am, and how to help make sure they don't exclude us. It is funny when someone says with a shock in their voice "I didn't know you wore hearing aids", and I reply "yup, for the last 10 years, thanks genetics and loud noises. Want to see them?" I found a hearing loss for medical professionals group that is doing a lot of education since so many of us are getting this as we age. I have not considered myself "disabled" until recently when it was pointed out that yes, this is a disability. I'm still me, uppity and lively, just like so many of us, in so many groups.

My friend is very open now about her MS as she wobbles around "no, I'm not drunk and no, I can no longer work, yes, it makes me angry but deal with me as a person". She used to try and hide it, being upset that something this personal was becoming public. Why should she have to modify her life to make others comfortable? Why should she have to become a public face on the issue of disability?

Another diabetic friend was tased when he pulled his car over to the side of the road when his blood sugar plummeted and he could not obey the orders of the cop. A local young man with known mental health issues was punched in the face by a cop to try to get him to comply quickly rather than taking the time to walk down the street with him talking with him. A blind local man was denied entrance to the movie theater for his seeing eye dog because dogs aren't allowed and why would a blind man want to "watch a movie"? On and on go the individual stories.

Disabled are an entire demographic and too often overlooked, sneered at, not understood. Thank you for speaking out for them, for us.

[WillowTree]

18. Better yet, let's not make *anyone* invisible.

[NuclearDem]

22. That's not what white privilege is.

Look at a white man and a black man. All other things being equal--education and employment level, physical and mental health, residence, religion--the white man is going to have certain inherent advantages as a result of cultural attitudes and stereotypes about race.

White privilege is the name given to a phenomenon in race relations, and is therefore used comparatively and in relation to others.

White privilege does not mean white males don't suffer.

[DawgHouse]

25. This is the perfect explanation, IMO.

[LostOne4Ever]

23. I am not disabled, but my mother is. I completely support visibility for the disabled! nt

[DinahMoeHum]

27. Poster re the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilites Act

?itok=AGoL3ccV


"Nothing About Us Without Us"

"Don't Think That We Don't Think"

"Not Being Able To Speak Is Not The Same As Not Having Anything To Say"

"You Gave Us Your Dimes, Now We Want Our Rights"

"Piss On Pity"

"Attitudes Are The Real Disability"


Above posters and other goodies are available at this link:
https://www.syracuseculturalworkers.com/products/theme/disability-rights?text=&items_per_page=20&sort_bef_combine=search_api_aggregation_16%20DESC&sort_by=search_api_aggregation_16&sort_order=DESC