{"id":405,"date":"2025-01-29T23:45:59","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T04:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/accessiblehealthcare\/?post_type=chapter&p=405"},"modified":"2025-12-19T00:32:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T05:32:38","slug":"ableism-and-disablism","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/accessiblehealthcare\/chapter\/ableism-and-disablism\/","title":{"raw":"Ableism and Disablism","rendered":"Ableism and Disablism"},"content":{"raw":"

Ableism<\/span><\/h2>\r\nReview the following short resource: Ableism 101 - What is Ableism? What Does it Look Like?<\/a>\r\n\r\nThen, take about 10 minutes to listen to Dr. Fiona Kumari-Campbell on \u201cability studies\u201d, below. Her talk touches on several themes; pay attention to her discussion of the [pb_glossary id=\"768\"]able body[\/pb_glossary], ableism, and her references to the intersection of disability and race. Also consider her ideas about the conceptualization of \u201cability\u201d at the heart of many systems of hierarchical power.\r\n\r\n
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Media Moment<\/h3>\r\nTime: 9 minutes, 34 seconds<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWatch the following video here, access it at the link below, or the transcript.\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rypmOk8rHRs[\/embed]\r\n\r\n\r\nProf Fiona Kumari Campbell - What the Devil are Studies in Ableism? 2021 Discovery Lecture\r\n<\/a>\r\n[h5p id=\"37\"]<\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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\"The term [ableism] references a powerful form of social oppression based on the assumption that there is a socially desired, ideal body and mind, and this assumed ideal is set as the standard against which all bodies and minds are compared and evaluated. Ableism deems bodies and minds that deviate from this ideal standard as deficient and disabled, fueling and informing many interlocking power relations including racism, colonialism, and classism.\"<\/p>\r\n

\u2014 Dr. Fiona Kumari-Campbell's contentions about \"ableism\", 2021<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Disablism<\/span><\/h2>\r\nKumari-Campbell and other disability leaders from outside Canada and the US draw a distinction between ableism and disablism.\r\n\r\nDisablism<\/strong> refers to discrimination or negative treatment directed towards disabled people (e.g., stereotypes, infantilizing policies, or professional or occupational regulations barring the employment of disabled people).\r\n\r\nAbleism<\/strong> references the exclusionary valourizing of \u201cspecies-typical\u201d standards that dictate how bodies function, move, appear, regulate, and so forth.\r\n\r\nLike the dominance of the [pb_glossary id=\"661\"]medical model[\/pb_glossary], Kumari-Campbell describes ableism as pervasive. Mia Mingus (2010, para. 5) extends this analysis to the intersections of oppressive social relations, such as racism, heterosexism, and ableism in our societies, writing \u201cIt\u2019s in the air we breathe; it\u2019s how the machine rolls; it\u2019s the default.\u201d The pervasiveness lies in how these oppressive relations are sustained by a system of power and privilege that benefits many. In Mingus\u2019 words, \u201cWe live in an ableist society and we all have a responsibility to actively work against it.\u201d\r\n
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Activity<\/h3>\r\n[h5p id=\"49\"]<\/code>\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"

Ableism<\/span><\/h2>\n

Review the following short resource: Ableism 101 – What is Ableism? What Does it Look Like?<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, take about 10 minutes to listen to Dr. Fiona Kumari-Campbell on \u201cability studies\u201d, below. Her talk touches on several themes; pay attention to her discussion of the