(Dis)abilities: A Discussion From My English Class

Trigger Warning: This includes content on disabilities and on mental illness and other topics that may be sensitive to readers.

(Dis)abilities is a term not a lot of people may know what it means. I know I didn’t before I learned more about it in my English classes and in novels that I had to read for certain classes. In today’s societies, a lot of people who have disabilities have negative connotations. The purpose of the parentheses in (dis)abilities is to show that ability is just as much a part of the world as disability is. And to be honest, my personal opinion is there doesn’t need to be a disability label. We can think of it as ability on a continuum, and some are simply on a different part of the continuum as someone else may be. We will all have disabilities at some point in our life, whether it’s due to chance, an accident, or old age.

If you think about it, mental (dis)abilities and physical (dis)abilities have different connotations, though both are seen in a bad light. Traditionally, mental illnesses have been seen as people who are “crazy” and need to be locked up and need to be “fixed” via therapy. This has gotten better today, but there are still issues, just like with anything else. Those with physical illnesses are looked down upon as people who are unable to do anything for themselves. They’re pitied. Someone who has a wheelchair with legs does not want a stranger to go and help them if they get stuck. That’s invalidating their personal boundaries. Most people wouldn't let a stranger go up to them and touch their feet without their consent. Someone who is in a wheelchair, to only mention one example, they want to be seen as equals. When they do everyday things that other people do everyday such as do their laundry, they don’t want to be made into a “superhero.” They just want to be seen as another person.

Believe it or not, a view from the 16th and 17th century, a very old and traditional view that is thankfully not dominant today, was that people who have (dis)abilities had sinned against God and their (dis)ability was Him marking that; or people believed that their parents had sinned and taken it out on their child. While you won’t find many, if any, people who believe this today, it’s still important to realize how far we’ve come and how far we have left to go.

It’s even possible that people with disabilities don’t like being referred to using People First Language (they don’t like being called “people who are disabled”). While crip may seem offensive, it’s a term people with disabilities like, similarly to how people who identify as gay like the term queer. They like it because other groups of people aren’t given People First Language, so why should they? White men aren’t called men who are white, to show just one example. It all comes down to equality, and not pointing out people’s differences in the first place.

Just look at people as people. The same goes for people with different body sizes. There’s no sense in calling their body “fat” when you could just call it a different body size. It’s also wrong to call someone plus-sized and look up to them as a role model for being the first plus-sized model to model for Victoria’s Secret because they should just be seen as any other woman. The plus-size label invalidates their job and talent. It’s important to start looking at people as people and not as people who are this or that. Ignore labels. If you think about it, there are so many things we don’t label. People don’t ever label me as a white girl, or as a girl with freckles, or as a girl with an average height or a girl as an average weight. People don’t label the characteristics that avoid deviance and that fit in with society. Any privileged characteristics don’t have to face the wrath of labels. It’s not fair that other characteristics face discrimination.

Instead of wording it as People First, maybe we should be wording it as Humans First. There’s a certain emotional connotation of goodness that I get from the latter. People First is still good, but because it still enforces labels, maybe we need to start enforcing something else.

Until a big change is made, you can still make a difference. The next time you see someone in a wheelchair, walk past them just like you would with someone not in a wheelchair. Say hi to them and wave without looking down at them. Treat them like you would anyone else. Start there :)

Works Cited

Schalk, Sami. “BODYMINDS Reimagined.” Duke University Press , March 15, 2018. https://www.dukeupress.edu/Assets/PubMaterials/978-0-8223-7088-8_601.pdf.