Surjit Singh Flora
Because people can be narrow-minded, insecure, and selfish, people often fear and hate what is different from them or what they don’t understand. Depending on your disability, the level of fear and hate can be mild to extreme. Secondly, because in the social hierarchy, people with disabilities are seen as the weaker ones, disability people have to experience and grow through so much that most people can’t even imagine Some people believe that the disabled are worth less than themselves, and horrid people think this gives them a right to mistreat and abuse disabled people. In addition, instead of learning the meaning of love, some people see disability as a burden and would rather have an ‘easy’ life where they only have to think about themselves. Okay, that’s a bit blunt, but I just feel that if everyone were kinder, the world would be a better place today. As someone who is autistic, I can tell you that abuse, and discrimination are genuine for those/ most of them on the spectrum. Many people have experienced bullying in different forms of discrimination and have even been raped or sexually exploited. There’s a great deal of stigma and ignorance around disability. Also, as a society, we have certain stereotypes about how people should look, speak and conduct themselves, and we assume that people with disabilities have no passion, aspirations, knowledge, or skills. This needs to change through awareness campaigns and knowledge/ implementation of accessible environments. Not only that, but People also treat everyone differently. They treat women differently from men, black different from white, short different than tall and attractive different from none. Actually, people with disability need help with many tasks. Needing help always creates an imbalance in power that can be exploited. Yet, many people need help with their accounting. That does not mean any accountant (or even many) will exploit their need to be helped. But while fraud is a criminal offence, ableist language or making fun of people with disabilities, shunning them, giving them no jobs or good education, is – to a degree – socially accepted. A man making fun of disabled people and using ableist slurs on a daily basis can even get elected as the president of the United States.
How we are dealing with othering and power imbalance is cultural and social.
Those with no knowledge or experience with disabilities also don’t know how to act.
They forget that you are a person first, and you just happen to have a disability that can create handicaps in your life. They just don’t know what to do, oftentimes. They aren’t sure whether to offer you assistance or if that might make you angry because here is a stranger assuming you can’t do something for yourself just because you have a disability. Some people think that disabilities affect others in other ways like just because someone can’t communicate like “normal” (for lack of a better term) people do, that they’re somehow less intelligent… or that because someone is visually impaired, the rest of their senses are like superpowers. Also, older generations will treat you differently from newer generations because of how disabilities were viewed before 1965 versus nowadays. There is still a lot of progress to be made on full inclusion within the educational system, but at least now, children with disabilities aren’t hidden away in institutions. This means that younger generations grow up together, disabled and non-disabled, and learn that they are all the same, some with different, specialized needs.
It takes education. I would say that you need to educate those around you. Some may be afraid to insult you, and some may be afraid because they don’t know what’s wrong with you. Open yourself up to those people who are curious. Invite them to ask questions, to educate themselves. Let them know how you want to be treated. Your limitations are, so they know when to assist you and when you shouldn’t need it unless you ask. The more they know, the less “scary and unknown” you and your disability become.
If you ever see someone making fun of a disabled person, stick up for the victim, most of the time, they can’t or won’t fight back, sometimes they won’t even understand. Think of yourself in their shoes, would you like to constantly be stared at and/or bullied? Of course not.
(The writer is a veteran journalist and freelance writer based in Brampton)
