Confronting Ableism as a Disabled Person

By Christine Miles

Follow @ChrisDisability

I’ve never been shy about the fact that I’m incredibly proud of my identity as a disabled woman. There’s no hiding it. It’s in my Twitter handle for goodness sake. I own it. As I enter the last year of my twenties later this summer, I have been reflecting on my identity quite a bit. Honestly, I think I owe that in part to Sean and his writing – which you all get to read my perspectives on. In combination with other things, it’s gotten me thinking about how my disabilities are pretty awesome. Ok, fine, NOT all the time, as pain and feeling like a walking pharmacy is pretty stinky, but still. I have pride in raising awareness and helping others see the positives of disability. Ableism, and especially internalizing it, is a pretty nasty beast. The rest of this post will show the ugly side, and would likely offend the people I refer to because of how hard it is to confront it. I hope by sharing both ableism and pride, readers will learn something or think more critically about disability.

I was raised with an unconscious idea that using a wheelchair made you lesser, or that proudly identifying as disabled wasn’t something you did. I’m sure other people born with disabilities can relate to the idea that somewhere in early life someone mentioned to family that the potential of never walking was a fate worse than death. I’m fairly certain this conversation happened in my own family — what if she can never walk?! How will she be normal if she can’t walk! For the record, I walk just fine- other than my body moving through space in a way that is different to most. These days, I see friends in powerchairs zipping along and wish my legs could keep up!