The Activist for Activists. Author of Make a Difference with Mental Health Activism and The Happy Activist: Journey the 5-Step Activism Path to Focus Your Passion and Change the World. Teacher, Psychologist, Environmental Activist, Animal Lover.
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Last Updated on October 23, 2024
People With Disabilities Are Epic Activists
People with disabilities are among the fiercest activists around. And those of us without physical and mental disabilities might need to step up our game to match their impact.
Did you know that people with disabilities are the largest minority group? Around 15% of people have disabilities.
Disability Rights
Although the disability activism fight started a long time ago, we have more work to do.
The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was landmark legislation.
“The ADA…prohibits discrimination and guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to participate in the mainstream of American life…” – ada.gov
Finally, people with disabilities were closer to equal rights. With this support came more power over their lives.
ADA Enforcement
But having good policy is only a start. The ADA’s goal: equality and no discrimination. Wonderful, right? But this bold goal has not been achieved. Enforcing laws is sometimes tricky.
For example, on April 7, 2021, an appeals court ruled that a grocery store’s website was not included in the ADA. Sadly, the visually impaired cannot access the website.
Another example: access to voting is an issue. Activists started the hashtag #CripTheVote to make voting more user-friendly.
Underfunding
Government support services for people with disabilities can end up being a sort of Hunger Games. They do not adequately fund programs. It is less about what a person needs and more about how services are doled out.
And now, the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the issue of who gets healthcare. So, in times of scarce resources, we evaluate people for their contributions to society.
Who gets to decide a person’s worthiness? This is a concern of disability justice.
Disability Justice
Legislation is a powerful tool, but it does not solve the root issue. We must change how society perceives people with disabilities.
The world tends to see people with disabilities as less worthy than others. This is called ableism.
We need disability justice that changes existing systems and creates a culture of equity. For example, people without disabilities make assumptions about what people with disabilities can do. Often without their input.
So, we don’t have justice until we see every person as a worthy, whole society member.
We can do better.
[Start your activism journey today.]
Your Activism
If you are a person with disabilities and want to make a difference, find the method that works best for you. Mental and physical health must be a priority. Despite that, there are many ways to make change.
People without disabilities can make a significant difference for those with disabilities. Disability activism may not be the cause closest to your heart. And that’s okay. But we all need to support the disability community. So, check out my post on engaging with your cause closest to your heart while supporting other causes.
Then read “How To Do Something Good In The Disability Community if You’re Not Disabled.” Andrew Pulrang provides tips to ensure people with disabilities have agency to control the change, with the support of others:
- “Clarify for yourself where your interest in disability comes from.
- Check your ideas, feelings, and priorities against what actual disabled people think and care about.
- Try to support already existing projects and organizations that were started and run by disabled people.
- Read and listen a lot before you speak.
- Pass the mic and the baton to disabled people.
- Be careful not to make it all about you.”
READ NEXT
Camp Jened, also known as “Crip Camp,” was a crucible for the development of disability activists. The movie Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution features prominent disability activist Judy Heumann, an organizer of the landmark 504 sit-in, and activist Jim Lebrecht. Crip Camp is up for an Academy Award. Netflix is streaming this super film.
To learn about disability activism history, read the New York Times article ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’: 16 Moments in the Fight for Disability Rights.
Meet the millions missing gang of epic activists. Although they suffer from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), they work for their cause, sometimes from their bed.
Read about the work of climate change activist Greta Thunberg. She is on the autism spectrum.
A growing backlash in the publishing community is authors without disabilities writing characters with disabilities. For example, the autism community protested a popular book because the author did not adequately portray a person with autism.
How a Life-Changing ‘Crip Camp’ Empowered Fierce Disability Activists
This is brilliant being a parent of a disabled adult daughter and disabled myself with several chronic illness I have been fighting for the right for my daughter and myself to get what we deserve in life and not what “they” deem we should have. The fight still goes on.
Hi, Bree. I’m sorry that you have to fight for what you and your daughter need. Best wishes to you. I hope this post helped open eyes to the terrible impact of ableism. Thanks for stopping by.
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