A blind author and scholar learns that words accepted as routine by one generation may be deemed ableist by another.
 | By Peter Catapano Senior Staff Editor, Opinion |
July is Disability Pride Month. I have mixed feelings about that. |
On the one hand, it's clearly a good thing. While the designation has not yet been recognized by the federal government — as some other history and pride months have — it is clearly catching on. More and more individuals, communities and institutions are acknowledging it each year. Awareness is being raised. There are events, talks, parades. And it has begun to carve out a (temporal and virtual) space in which millions of disabled Americans may publicly reaffirm their dignity together. It also serves as a reminder of one of the nation's greatest legislative achievements: the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990. So yes, let's celebrate. |
On the other hand, what are we doing here? In an email conversation this week with a disabled writer I've worked with, I found myself cynically describing pride and history months as manufactured occasions that allow us to wave a flag in support of a particular set of fundamental human rights for a few weeks, without committing to the hard daily work necessary for meaningful change. For institutions, that change means accessible workplaces, fair hiring and compensation practices, and inclusion efforts that are fully inclusive (disability is often left out of company diversity initiatives). For individuals: practicing the golden rule, humility and courtesy; cultivating a baseline empathy and a willingness to listen; accepting guidance and criticism; and altering our habits and behaviors when they are exclusive, hurtful or oppressive to others. All things that cannot be legislated. Like many people, I try to do these things, but I often fail. |
In an insightful guest essay, M. Leona Godin, a blind scholar and author, recounts a recent day she spent with two blind writer friends, both about 20 years younger than she is. The two millennials gently chide their elder for using ableist language — words and expressions that implicitly demean the status of disabled people. Godin is herself an established voice in blind and disability pride movements, but instead of getting her Gen X hackles up, she commits to listen and learn by asking her friends the question, "Is that ableist?" Some of the old linguistic habits of her youth, she realizes, needed updating. |
This was refreshing: a discussion about the power of language and appropriate speech that did not lead to indignation or rage. And it moved me to make a renewed effort to listen and learn myself. I asked Godin and a few other disabled writers I know if my cynicism about pride and history months was misplaced. There was no ambiguity in their answers: It was. Godin wrote: "I always am working to promote disability pride and blind pride, but this month I can express it deliberately and hopefully get the word out to people who think disability is merely a calamity to be avoided and pitied. This month gives us a chance to explicitly celebrate disability culture." |
When August rolls around, she wrote, "we'll go back to the humdrum business of fighting for accessibility and equal opportunities and the work of creating a world that accepts disability as an aspect of diversity, but hopefully after Disability Pride Month, we will have a few more allies." |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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