I have never fit into the disabled community. My ideas are the opposite of the norm. I blame this on the fact that the majority of my accomplishments were achieved before the passage of the ADA.
I achieved everything with the support of my mom, I just did what I had to do to continue my education after graduating high school. I knew the schools were not obligated to have resources for me. When I entered grad school my first advisor came right out and said the school did not want me. He told me he would rather see me fail than help me. I got my MSW despite him. (Vocational rehabilitation deemed me unemployable. I created a part-time teaching position for myself. I did what I had to do to have a job.)
If a statement like that was made by a faculty member today there would be a lawsuit, mega news coverage, and the person who be screaming at the top of their lungs how their rights to higher education had been violated. They would be demanding to get the assistance they deserved. I knew I deserved nothing. I appreciated whatever assistance I was given.
I am not saying you should not advocate for yourself to get what you need. By all, means do so. But society owes you nothing. Employees of a business do not have to stop what they are doing to assist you in filling out forms or reading said forms to you. Bringing someone with you is being independent. You are not disrupting a business. You are handling your needs yourself.
I am disabled, but I am ashamed of the new generation of disability. They are so ready to shout ableism at the drop of a hat. A month or so ago I was called a lateral ableist by another disabled person on social media. First I googled it. I am old. We did not have those terms in my day. I had ableist views and I shared them. I did not know my views were ableist.
It's an oxymoron when people with disabilities say they are just like everyone else but the only thing they talk about is their disabilities. That's getting old and boring. Your disability is not who you are. It's a part of you. Like the color of your eyes. I voiced my opinion on social media. I got blasted for it.
When I meet someone I am interested in finding out if we share common interests. Books, music, movie, TV shows, and art are my interests. It does not matter whether they have a disability or not. Those are the things that matter to me. If a person has a question and is respectful I am happy to talk about my CP. I am not saying do not ever talk about your disability. Just balance it out.
The new generation of disabled needs to remember those who came before them. Those people with disabilities fought so that today most children with disabilities are mainstreamed. They can have productive lives because of those who fought for basic human rights.\
I urge anyone reading this to watch the Netflix documentary Crip Camp to see true heroes of the disability rights movement.
I have not written a post in quite a while. I did not think I had anything worthwhile to say. But I do. I, like many others, accomplished our goals when we had very few rights. Society did not accept us.
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The disabled of today do not have a clue, I do not want to identify with a community that does not respect different points of view.
A lateral ableist. Really?
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