Disablity and Ablism.

Hi all so I am writing this as a follow up to my ablism video and I know that the first rule of the internet is to stay away from the comment sections but when you get this often used phrase around the only true disability is a bad attitude it comes across as rude and simply ableist as people get very uncomfortable very quickly when you start talking about disability and I have to say that yes at times a bad attitude gets in the way if you have a disability but this comment I know the person had “good intentions” but we know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and we need to be able to work with what we have but at the same time we need to acknowledge  that disability is very real and there is very real links between disability and mental health due to comments like this one and I do admit that I felt attacked with what was said as I have worked so hard to even admit that I have disability’s and am worthy of help and assistance, we see that people need to be able to understand the impact of there words and actions on every one and this is the same with people with disabilities and  people get very uncomfortable as there are people actively gate keeping what people are allowed to say and they have no experience with disability or understanding of the reality of disability and the day to day struggles we face.

It is hard for me to be so “high functioning” and this is a phrase that I have again been criticized for using we see that people need to be very on their toes even in the disability awareness and activism community because even in this community there is a very different view of disability. It’s seen as something to be proud of and not hide because for so long we have had to hide our disability to fit into society something that we call masking and it's not great for anyone to have to mask long-term, we see that it increases mental health risks and the risk of physical illness.

Also this quote smacks of ignorance of what a disability actually is and I am working on a longer term project that even some of my close friends, who are in the caring industry’s and it was a challenge for them to define what is a disability and this is something that we need to be very aware of that disability is different to every one and not everyone who on paper has a disability sees themselves as disabled as often it might actually be a very bad idea to “identify” as disabled and this is where a concept called internalized ableism comes into play and we are able to work through this and accept that not everyone who has a disability wants to be seen through the lens of their disability or even known as disabled, but there are times when it becomes very apparent due to the fact that people are mobility aid users, that they might need a sign langue interpreter or be a service dog user and I need to stop and differentiate the difference between a service dog and a ESA one is a trained dog and in Australia has to pass training tests and it’s rare to self self-train a service dog,  but an emotional support animal is an animal trained to give emotion support to a person and I understand the need for them but I have seen some that aren’t well trained and engage with other people and I understand in the USA the over usage of ESA has led to further discrimination of service dog users due to people seeing them as the same thing and people mistakenly believing they have the same rights but they don’t and this is something that we need to work on and having a  psychiatric service  animals to me is a much better option, its something that we need to have a conversation on and work on what it means to need a ESA  as I do see the value but I also do see the risks of harm.  So trained service dog users.

But ablism is something that I have tried to stay away from due to the risk of coming across as ignorant on the topic but then I realized that I have experienced it first hand and even within support workers not understanding my needs and when I asked for help it wasn’t given and it was a reasonable request and in the realms of possibility to be able to work with it,  so some casual instances of ablism for me has been having an OT doing training for support workers on my needs but it being followed for about a week due to behaviors of other housemates that they didn’t know how to manage and this is something that I spoke up about but it was pushed down and I was left to figure it out on my own and to seek support elsewhere

I now have fantastic support team and I now know how to ask for the help I need and to work around it as well, and we need to be able to call out ablism as we see it, as I said earlier the world isn’t built to be inclusive of us, I have seen venues that have ramps out the back and near to bins so this gives the impression that we are rubbish and to be kept out of sight,  that we have a sensory hour that is a great start but what happens if we need to  shop outside of these times, if they can make it work for one hour why can’t they have it as standard is my question and lets start the conversation that we are all avoiding around the cost blowouts that is the NDIS and people not seeing how it has created two classes of people with disabilities and I know in my life it has created a level of entitlement that is horrific to see and to be able to work with it but I needed to ask myself is it entitlement or is it accepting the support I needed all along and I also struggle everyday in asking is it a reason or an excuse and this brings us back to the attitude question is the only true disability a bad attitude or is it a society issue that we are too afraid to talk about due to it being something that has no easy answers.