This article was originally published on Threads of Solidarity: WOC Against Racism and is republished with permission. As strong, as brilliant, as loving, and as powerful as we may be, we weren’t built to be superheroes — we were built to be human. — Threads of Solidarity, “Giving from an empty cup/How not to die” The strong, Black woman. The Asian “model minority.” … [Read more...]
21 Ways Able-Bodied Privilege Looks Like
This article originally appeared in WearYourVoiceMag.com and is reprinted by permission. Here are 21 ways that able-bodied privilege looks. Some of them are self-explanatory. Others? Well, just read on: 1. Ableist people will actually heed your call-outs about ableism: It all starts here. When you notice someone being ableist and call them out, they are more inclined to … [Read more...]
10 Answers to Common Questions People Ask When Being Called Out for Using Ableist Language
The Body Is Not an Apology’s goal is to share the myriad ways human bodies unshackle the box of “beauty” and fling it wide open for all of us to access. Our goal is to redefine the unapologetic, radically amazing magnificence of EVERY BODY on this planet. When we do, we change the world! Join the movement and become a subscriber today! bit.ly/NoBodiesInvisible. *** This … [Read more...]
Learning Not To Care What Abled Folks Think: How Internalized Ableism Affects My Body Image
I was talking with some of my disabled friends the other day about body image. One of my friends said they were always worried about looking fit because, as a wheelchair user, they feared that any extra weight would be perceived as the result of laziness and possibly part of the reason they needed the chair. Someone else mentioned that she avoided short haircuts because of the … [Read more...]
How Abled Folks Can Support the Disability Movement if Obamacare Is Repealed
As I write this, there are people in this terrifying administration still actively trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act – the only reason that I, and many other disabled and chronically ill people in the US, have access to health insurance. If the ACA is overturned, we’ll return to the old system: one in which insurance companies can charge whatever they want, their … [Read more...]
Forced To Fake It: How the System Forces Disabled People To Lie
Somewhere, in the darkest corners of the Internet, lurk packs of people who devote themselves solely to seeking out disability and chronic illness bloggers to stalk and harass them, accusing them of faking or exaggerating their conditions. A few friends of mine from the online disability communities I hang around in were recently targeted by them, and it exposed me to a world … [Read more...]
“Stupid” Is an Ableist Slur: Breaking Down Our Defenses and Liberating Our Words From Ableist Language
During the course of 2016 I saw more ableist slurs tossed around than ever before. From casual conversation to mass media broadcasts, people are referring to one another in the most dehumanizing ways possible - and throwing disabled people under the bus in the process. I feel exhausted because it seems like no one is above it. Some of the most consistent advocates I know … [Read more...]
No, I’m Not “Wheelchair-Bound”
I know a guy who says that when people ask him how long he’s been in a wheelchair, he’s starts responding, “Since I got up this morning.” Sometimes, when I feel especially bold or especially frustrated, I borrow it. Despite the fact that my wheelchair and I have a special bond, to the point where I often actually do consider it a part of my body – or at least an extension of it … [Read more...]
Dear Younger Self: Reflections on Being 25, Disabled, and Learning To Love Yourself
This article originally appeared in the blog Claiming Crip and is reprinted by permission. Dear 15-year-old Karin, I can’t believe I’m 25! I’m not going to lie, when I was your age I never thought I would make it here, and I definitely never thought I might actually like myself (gasp!). Don’t get me wrong, I still have bad days. There are still some things I wish I could … [Read more...]
Coming to Peace With Aging
We spend millions of dollars each year on cosmetics, creams and plastic surgery to distance ourselves from the notion of age. Billion-dollar industries tell us every day that their special formula will help us look younger or feel younger, and even the advertisements that seem to embrace the idea of aging, show us images of stereotypical beautiful and thin women and men, who … [Read more...]
Loose Skin, Stretch Marks, and Cellulite, Oh My: How I Gathered the Courage to Disrupt My Self-Hatred
This article originally appeared in Rarely Wears Lipstick under the title "Fat Bodies, Uneven Skin, and the Courage to Disrupt" and is reprinted by permission from the writer. Content note: this article contains detailed references to body shame, including slang terms for features ascribed to fat bodies and wishes of weight loss, that may be triggering for some … [Read more...]
6 Ways Your Social Justice Activism Might Be Ableist
This article was originally published on EverydayFeminism.com and is republished with permission. Incredibly, some leftist activists still fail to recognize ableism as a social justice issue. But from the 200,000 disabled people murdered during the Holocaust, to the ugly legacies of eugenics and prison-like institutions for the disabled, to the2016 attack against disabled … [Read more...]
Some of Us Cannot Wait & See: 5 Thoughts on Undoing Ableism & Isolation In Your Community Spaces
In the east coast, I’ve noticed the urgent need for a long-awaited shift in radical and queer spaces. People who are SDQTPOC (Sick & Disabled Queer Trans People of Color) and SDC (Sick, Disabled, & with Chronic pain) have been continuously fighting to disrupt able-bodied political space for quite some time. Simultaneously, SDQTPOC face various degrees of ableism that … [Read more...]
5 Ways Ableism Looks in Queer Spaces
This article was originally published on Wear Your Voice and is republished with permission. “Ableism shapes attitudes… and systems that ultimately dehumanize… [and] criminalize people whose bodies don’t fit into socially constructed notions of what constitutes a ”normal” human being.”-Edward Ndopu and Darnell L. Moore As queer folks with … [Read more...]
