But crucially, different disabilities don’t justify different human rights, standards of respect, or basic priorities. People with chronic illness or pain need understanding, and a bedrock acceptance of their invisible but very real disabilities.Īs many disabled people and their allies point out, “one size doesn’t fit all” when it comes to responding to different disabilities. People with learning disabilities need the freedom to use the methods that work for them best. Intellectually and developmentally disabled people, as well as people with traumatic brain injuries and similar conditions may need a variety of support services and the freedom to use them without being controlled and confined by them. Visually impaired, blind, hearing impaired, Deaf, and non-speaking people need adaptive devices, and understanding and patience from others to allow them the space and time to navigate the world, and to communicate and be heard. Some also need everyday personal help to do everyday self-care tasks. People with physical and mobility impairments need decent canes, walkers, wheelchairs, and above all, barrier free homes and neighborhoods. All people with any disability should be treated with respect at all times.ĭisabilities are different, and call for different responses. It doesn’t help the cause of disability justice and equality to say, “Sure, you’re in a wheelchair, but at least there’s nothing wrong with your brain.”Ģ. However, it is important to be aware of how durable assumptions are, and to resist them, actively. There is much more recognition now that these hierarchies are invalid and destructive. These divisions are of course fluid, and not everyone buys into them. And lately, it has been casually and increasingly used as a rhetorical stand-in or explanation for political extremism and offensive beliefs, and in more than one political direction. Mental illness is still widely associated with violence and unpredictability. are sometimes accepted, but more often doubted and accused of faking or exaggerating their conditions.Įven while public efforts to fight mental health stigma move forward and make progress, people with mental illness are the most often feared and despised among disabled people. and other less visible disabilities of all kinds. They are in general more valued and appreciated than they once were, but are still treated less like full human beings with real agency than other disabled people. Meanwhile, people with cognitive impairments are too often assumed to be less capable and more in need of supervision.
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