Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsThe History of AbleismThe Two Main Types of AbleismHow to Know If You’re Being AbleistThe Impact of AbleismHow to Be More Inclusive

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

The History of Ableism

The Two Main Types of Ableism

How to Know If You’re Being Ableist

The Impact of Ableism

How to Be More Inclusive

Close

Ableism is discrimination against people with disabilities. The discrimination can be intentional or unintentional and is based on the belief that there is a correct way for bodies and minds to function and that anyone who deviates from that is inferior.

Ableism centers around the notion that people with disabilities are imperfect and need fixing. It can show up in ways ranging from personal to institutional, and it includes the many ways in which people with disabilities are considered “less than” non-disabled people.

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Connection to Eugenics

Eugenics is a racist and classist concept that encourages population control through mechanisms including forced sterilization and marriage screenings, and proponents of it consider White people the “best” race.

Progress has been made to help people understand that no one is inherently better than anyone else, regardless of the variety of ways our bodies and minds work and the states they exist in. However, the current world we live in is one that is still deeply ableist.

Read on to learn more about how ableism manifests in our culture, and what you can do about it.

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Ableism is generally broken down into one of two types: physical and mental. Though a person could possibly behave in an ableist way about a different area of identity, these are the two most common.

Physical Ableism

This form of ableism is centered around the intentional or unintentional discrimination of people with physical disabilities. However, for people who are not disabled, these forms of discrimination may not be noticeable. That’s because when you don’t have to think about how others are functioning, there’s a greater chance you won’t realize how infrequently disabled people are considered in the set up of public spaces.

Here are some examples of how physical ableism presents itself:

Mental Ableism

Just like how physical ableism is discrimination against people with physical disabilities, mental ableism is discrimination, whether intentional or not, against people who are mentally ill, neurodivergent, and labeled as having developmental disabilities. These are some ways that people experience mental ableism.

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Ableism isn’t always as obvious as a building that has no ramp for wheelchairs. It often shows up in subtle ways, and pretty much all people who aren’t disabled take part in ableism, whether on occasion or regularly. Often, we have no idea we are doing it!

Here are some ableist behaviors that are common in our society, from the most obvious to the least.

Outright Discrimination

This form of ableism is the most overt. It is based on actions that specifically exclude disabled people.

Some examples of outright discrimination would be:

Microaggressions

Unlike outright discrimination, which is fairly obvious to everyone,microaggressions are much more subtle.

Additionally, phrases that are ground into our lexicon so thoroughly that we don’t even give them a second thought before saying them are also microaggressions.

Think of referring to a group of people you don’t think have enough skills as “the blind leading the blind,” or when you think someone didn’t listen to you close enough so you commented that your words “fell on deaf ears.” Saying things like, “That’s so lame,” “I’m soOCDwhen it comes to cleaning,” or “That girl is a psycho,” are also ableist microaggressions.

We usually mean no harm at all when we say things like that, but they are ableist statements that are harmful to disabled people.

Being a Part of Systemic or Institutional Ableism

It’s tough not to be complicit in ableism when you live in a world that has it built into its very systems and structures.

To some extent, most non-disabled people are complicit in systemic ableism because we aren’t all spending our time fighting against it. However, there are some ways that we can be particularly complicit. This includes not speaking up when you notice something ableist like a building that isn’t accessible or an employer’s hesitancy to hire a disabled person.

Generally, individuals don’t create institutional ableism. That said, it’s highly encouraged that non-disabled readers join the work that the local disability groups in their area are doing. Disabled people don’t need non-disabled people to rise up for them; they need us to project their voices and ensure that they’re heard.

It should come as no surprise that ableism harms disabled people. It may harm them emotionally, such as when a blind person hears someone say that a situation is “like the blind leading the blind.”

It can harm them physically, like when a disabled person has to go somewhere that hasn’t been made accessible to them.

It harms them in academia, when a disabled person may lose the fight to be included with non-disabled classmates. And it can harm them in their livelihoods, as disabled people are presented with fewer job opportunities and lower wages, earning an average of 37% less annually.

Learning about how ableism presents itself in our society is the biggest tool tobehave more inclusively.

Now that you understand ableism, what can you do when you are witness to it, and how can you avoid ableist behaviors in your life?

Here are some ideas:

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3 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Ableism. Oxford Reference.National Conference for Community and Justice.Ableism.Those with disabilities earn 37% less on average; gap is even wider in some states. American Institutes for Research.

3 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Ableism. Oxford Reference.National Conference for Community and Justice.Ableism.Those with disabilities earn 37% less on average; gap is even wider in some states. American Institutes for Research.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Ableism. Oxford Reference.National Conference for Community and Justice.Ableism.Those with disabilities earn 37% less on average; gap is even wider in some states. American Institutes for Research.

Ableism. Oxford Reference.

National Conference for Community and Justice.Ableism.

Those with disabilities earn 37% less on average; gap is even wider in some states. American Institutes for Research.

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