Ask Lemmy

I’ve seen way too many people casually use the R word on Lemmy. Ig people just don’t care about ableism

There is actually a quite hardcore history of advocacy that cropped up in the civil rights era where folk with disabilities performed some really heroic protest. The tale of Ed Roberts and the "Rolling Quads" is pretty legendary stuff.

The wins established a mostly unchallenged veiw at a legal level that differently abled people deserve to have their participation in society facilliatied. It was a major win...

But with success comes stagnation. Part of why the LGBTQIA+ is so visible is the movement is still marching and there is a secondary purpose to the movement. The visibility of actually running up a flag in those communities is a way to make something potentially invisible visible. To give a sense of solidarity. A lot of subjugation techniques of the past were to make people feel like they couldn't possibly make strides for equality because their numbers were too small. Prides are the antithesis to that form of subjugation and for lost souls cast out from their families to find a non-hostile culture. Prides are run by legacy volunteers and are huge in participation so people who want to gain political points for future votes or as an audience gathering together anyway to advertize to look at tipping their hat to the movement as personally adventageous. They don't nessisarily do it out of generosity and respect. While it's possible they do actually have aligned principles of civil rights it is basic backscratching as the LGBTQIA have something they want. Votes or dollars.

As far as I am aware Disability civil rights advocacy has moved mostly into the pocketsquare and tie political sphere rather than the rough and tumble social advocacy battles where it began and as a result the short memory of society has forgotten the impact and demands of those voices in the villiage square ring of cultural advocacy. Since fewer people are counted on to be tuned into C-SPAN then can be counted at to go paint some rainbows on their faces and participate in a mardi gras style carnival event it doesn't get the same level of attention.

In short - effective cultural advocacy along the lines of the LGBTQIA is driven by communities banding together and going out and being visible in force and making some kind of public fuss. All the better if it's an over the top fun day... Or if you set fire to things and riot that basically gets people talking and asking questions too. Basically whatever works to be the loudest squeeky wheel. Otherwise non-minority folk who don't have to think about your needs will forget to ask you what you need or straight up forget you exist.

I dont think I understand what is the end goal of this question?

I would assume that first and foremost it's that, as the old saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. And disabled people and their advocates aren't squeaky enough.

Cynically, I think there's another explanation...

I think a lot of activism doesn't actually generate meaningful results. To some significant degree, it just serves as something for people to fight over and politicians to fundraise and campaign on.

To serve those purposes though, it has to be controversial - there has to be a basis on which one party can take a stance in favor and the other a stance opposed. And another handy feature of that sort of activism is that it doesn't have to actually be enacted, and in fact, it's better for the politicians if it's not. That means that the ones who supported it can fundraise and run merely on having supported it and on the need to counter the evil other party who opposed it, while those who opposed it can fundraise and run merely on having opposed it and on the need to counter the evil other party who proposed it. And since no money was spent on any program, that's that much more money the politicians can funnel to their cronies. It's basically free publicity with a bit of "Let's you and them fight" mixed in.

And LGBT might as well have been tailor-made for that exact purpose.

But with something like advocacy for the disabled, there's no basis on which either party could dare oppose it, so there's nothing to fight over, and worse yet, if it's proposed, there's no excuse for not passing it, which means they'd have to pay for it, and that's money that they'd rather be funneling to their cronies.

So politicians mostly just ignore it.

For those asking for something that needs help/awareness, chronic pain sufferers (and disabled, but speaking from chronic pain myself) pretty much always have diminished mental clarity due to being in pain or stressed all the time. We can be seen as lazy when we don't have a job or have a hard time contributing, but I think people don't realize that getting medical shit done in america is like a full time job. The amount of hoops you need to jump through, repeat appointments to get your doctor to actually listen to your concerns, dealing with administration of doctors, insurance, and government because THEY STILL COMMUNICATE THROUGH FAXES, and just being dead tired of being a broken human being. You have to shout and scream basically or you will be pushed to the wayside.

So basically, please be aware of invisible illnesses and have patience. We may have the physical capability to do a task on a good day, but shit can get so beaten down. Also medically insurance covered, like, managers/secretaries that help you navigate this bullshit would be great. A real job as a medical advocate for a person should exist.

There could also be more awareness spread against the stigma/stereotype of people coasting off disability. (Often it's snuffed when it's mental) It's not really enough to live on, it can be taken away extremely easily, you have to resign yourself to poverty because if you can make some money you aren't truly disabled. That and disability submission takes 6 months to process, in which most people are denied first just cause. so they then have to get a lawyer to appeal, which takes months+. It's hard to get disability, and it gives you scraps.

To add, as most responses here seem correct but I haven't seen this said.

In recent mentors memory there has not been a moral judgement attached to disabilities. There's a lack of societal hate to overcome, everyone agrees disabilities suck and aren't your fault. So there's no rallies, no allies.

A lot of businesses look on people with disabilities as an expense rather than a market. And politically they're too diverse to be considered a voting bloc except for certain issues. But July was Disability Pride Month.... https://www.womansday.com/life/a43964487/disability-pride-flag/

Your place of work should be willing and likely already has a policy in place to accommodate disabilities. Talk to them about your needs.

If that gets you nowhere, seek a less shitty employer. I'd start by trying to find other people with the same/similar disability and asking about the companies they work for. Once you find a good one that's compatible with your area of expertise, keep an eye on their postings.

What you DON'T want to do is just suffer in silence - no company is going to lift a finger for you unless you specifically ask it to.

Excuse my ignorance because my only (known) disability is needing corrective lenses.

LGBTQ rights and issues are relatively straightforward (where the goal is to love whoever you love and act like the person you want to be). Disability (to me) is much more of a vague and broad concept so I don't know what the aim of a movement would be.

The causes of disability range from a voluntary or involuntary event, whether it's a workplace incident, sports, car crash, or sometimes people have it from birth. People inflicted with conditions such as blindness, deafness, speech impediment, schizophrenia, or being bound to a mobility or other device like a wheelchair, pacemaker, hearing aid. There's such variety and people need assistance in different ways.

I try to help where I can, but I have trouble offering help sometimes. How do I support someone without calling attention to their disability?

There's a lot of LGBT people with the same demand - "Let us be this gender". What demand are chronic illness people making?