Progress and ableism
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Every July during Disability Pride Month, people with disabilities and the disability community struggle with the same fundamental issues.
Is it really better for disabled people now than it was 50 years ago? Or is ableism just as bad, or even worse? This is a question that is sometimes hotly debated among disabled people, and it implies two other related questions:
Firstly, is common sense about the power of positive education to change attitudes towards disability and inevitable progress correct? Or is ableism too deeply ingrained in society to be remedied by gentle, upbeat awareness campaigns?
Second, are disabled people who still experience intense ableism today rare exceptions, or are they actually closer to the norm, with only a privileged and lucky few enjoying most of the progress we all celebrate?
Great strides have been made regarding rights, opportunities, and respect for people with disabilities, and the lives of at least some people with disabilities have improved significantly. And most people with disabilities have more access to support and improvements than they did a few decades ago. But for many, being disabled in 2023 is as bad as it was before the 1950s.
Today, it is important to be specific about both progress and ableism. For example:
Accessibility
The most commonly cited examples of progress are disability rights laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, and detailed, comprehensive accessibility guidelines, such as the ADA Accessibility Standards, which create federal, state, and local requirements to make buildings and public environments more accessible. These have helped to significantly improve the accessibility of all kinds of public environments over the past 30 years, and this is not just limited to the United States. While specific mandates vary by country, accessibility is no longer a new concept and has become, to some extent, a global priority.
Yet architectural barriers remain common, especially in older buildings and neighborhoods. Communications and internet accessibility lag behind. And while businesses and governments have made some improvements on standard features like ramps and door widths, they too often fail to provide individuals with reliable access. People with disabilities still encounter unnecessary barriers every day. It’s difficult to fully appreciate the myriad access improvements that work so seamlessly as to be invisible: restaurants without accessible restrooms, curbs without ramps, apartment buildings that aren’t meant to accommodate wheelchair users.
Employment opportunities
Title I of the ADA contains very specific and innovative provisions to combat employment discrimination against workers and job seekers with disabilities. And recently, employment rates for people with disabilities have been trending upwards since the pandemic, improving at a slightly higher rate than those without disabilities. In some ways, the employment prospects for people with disabilities are better than ever.
But despite the ADA’s protections, employment discrimination remains extremely difficult to prevent. Many people with disabilities feel like they have no one to back them up in the job market, and the overall employment gap between people with disabilities and those without has always been large and remains so. The University of New Hampshire Center for Disability Studies’ June-July 2023 Disability Employment Statistics report paints a grim picture.
The labor force participation rate for people with disabilities increased from 37.9 percent to 40.4 percent, while the rate for people without disabilities remained constant at 78.4 percent. The employment rate for people with disabilities increased from 37 percent to 37.4 percent, while the employment rate for people without disabilities remained constant at 75 percent.
This is proof once again that while employment rates for people with disabilities are currently improving compared to non-disabled people, the overall gap remains large. The employment gap between people with disabilities and non-disabled people is a staggering 30-40 percent, and a few percentage points on either side doesn’t seem to mean much to the average disabled person looking for a job or career. Progress is certainly being made, but for many people with disabilities, it’s hard to see or believe it, because there is still so far to go.
Financial Security
Income assistance and health insurance programs do exist for unemployed and low-income Americans with disabilities, and people with disabilities can and do benefit at least some from a more prosperous economy, more plentiful well-paying jobs, and other aspects of the developed economy of the 21st century.
But poverty rates for people with disabilities remain significantly higher than those without disabilities, as a 2021 report from the Century Foundation noted:
“In 2019, 21.6% of people with disabilities were considered poor on the Census Supplemental Poverty Measure, compared with just over 10% of people without disabilities.”
A recent Esquire article, “The Cost of Living for People with Disabilities in America,” goes into more detail about the high cost of living for people with disabilities and the inadequacy of support to make their lives affordable and stable. The entitlement system is decades outdated, both in the amount of monthly income it provides and in the eligibility, income, and savings limitations that impede how people with disabilities can work when they can. And many lawmakers in the U.S. and elsewhere seem more interested in “crackdowns” on a few alleged cases of fraud than in reforming the entitlement system to foster true economic stability. Few people with disabilities would like to travel back in time to the 19th century or earlier, to a time when there was little formal support. But the failures and deficiencies of otherwise helpful and necessary safety net programs have caused real hardship for millions of people with disabilities while simultaneously supporting millions more.
Social acceptance
Even in today’s environment of social polarization and backlash against “woke” progress, the taboo against overt, derogatory ableism is much stronger than it was 30 or 50 years ago. This is reflected in a shift in language that continues to evolve in a more accurate and positive direction. It’s also evident in the rise of disabled characters, stories, and actors on TV and in movies. Disability culture is thriving like never before, amplified by the internet and social media. And overall, it’s now much more common to see disabled people participating in everyday life and just being there, rather than hiding away in homes or institutions.
And yet, disabled people can still be ignored, disrespected, and insulted by able-bodied people. One ugly encounter can carry the same emotional weight and long-term impact as decades of progress in “disability understanding.” Moreover, “tolerance” or “acceptance” of disabled people is not the same as true respect or inclusion. Many otherwise positive interactions between disabled and able-bodied people feel forced and fake. Though better than abuse, disabled people too often still feel socially marginalized and vulnerable.
The disability community is diverse. And not all disabled people experience progress or ableism in the same way or to the same extent. Which disabled people have benefited most from the progress made so far in fighting ableism? It’s hard to say for sure, and it’s dangerous to generalize about the entire population. But it’s helpful to note some possible trends and correlations. Broadly speaking, some disabled people tend to recognize progress and remain optimistic, even though they also encounter physical barriers and ableism.
People with physical disabilities. People who, except for their particular disability, can behave more or less “normal”. People with disabilities who can speak and communicate effectively. People with disabilities who live in supportive families and communities. People with disabilities who have relative economic stability. People with disabilities who live and work in environments where disability discrimination is strictly prohibited. People with disabilities who can choose where they live and who they interact with. People with disabilities who are advantaged in terms of race, sex, and socio-economic class.
Meanwhile, other disabled people make less progress and are more likely to experience ableism, isolation and discrimination, including:
People with cognitive disabilities and mental illnesses; People with disabilities that are hard to distinguish and understand; People whose appearance appears to others to be significantly different or “abnormal”; People with speech, hearing, vision or other communication disabilities; People with disabilities who are trapped in dysfunctional and unsupportive families and communities; People with disabilities who are poor and economically insecure; People with disabilities who live and work in environments that are more openly and freely hostile to disability, cutthroat and unregulated; People with disabilities who have little or no choice in the places they live and have to interact with every day; and People with disabilities whose ableism is complicated and intensified by racism, gender inequality, homophobia, transphobia and other forms of social and economic marginalization.
Experiences of disability, both good and bad, are not evenly distributed across the disability community. Some disabled people have more to be happy about than others. And there are real, tangible, and at least somewhat predictable reasons for this. Disabled people’s optimism and pessimism are not just a matter of their attitudes.
Why is this important?
Celebrating progress in the disability community is valid and important, but it can often feel alienating to disabled people who don’t see the benefits of that progress in their own lives. Disabled people themselves need to acknowledge the divisions and relative levels of privilege within and between disability communities. We need to listen to and acknowledge the experiences of disabled people who find it difficult or hypocritical to celebrate Disability Pride Month each July.
It’s also important for non-disabled people to remember that ableism will not be overcome by disability rights laws or a few disability etiquette workshops. Both are necessary, but not sufficient. And evidence of progress on disability issues alone cannot repair or refute the ableism that disabled people experience directly in their daily lives. Both progress and ableism exist. Both must be acknowledged and examined.