Ableism as a moral issue
Today I want to talk about ableism and morality.
Someone messaged me recently to talk about how frustrating it is that their parents, very similarly to mine, just don’t believe or refuse to understand their struggles as a neurodivergent, and disabled person.
And as I answered I realized this is such an important topic and complex topic.
I think a lot of the refusal to understand disabilities and illnesses is because they are seen as a moral issue.
I see this occurring most frequently in my parent’s boomer generation- for a lot of cultural reasons, including that they were raised by parents who went through WWII with little to no means of healthy coping or processing of that trauma. But actually I won't even limit it to just boomers, because it’s happening in younger generations as well.
Our society has a fetish with hard work. If you aren’t successful it's because you’re not working hard enough. A lot of it is tied up in classism- Blaming financial success or failure on the individual rather than the system as a whole. The reasons why this happens is complicated and built upon generations and generations of held beliefs.
Classicism, capitalism, white supremacy, imperialism all hold power because of something unusual that happens psychologically. Those who are exploited but have more than those who are truly disadvantaged have an almost stockholm syndrome like reaction to prove to those in power that they are worthy. They are the good ones because they are earning a wage correctly and working the hardest. It must be because they are right and everyone else is wrong. And because of this they police others for any differences they have. Therefore, focusing on the exact wrong thing- the illusion that hard work = success. All of this upholds the structures in place to assure those in power remain in power.
It’s the idea that if you’re struggling it has to be your fault, because everyone is given the same chances. And obviously we know that’s not even remotely true. But nevertheless, it’s what people have been taught over hundreds of years by example and socialization to believe.
But not all of ableism relates back to capitalism- a good portion of it comes from Christanity. If you look back to European medieval and renaissance history there is a very common theme that we still hold onto today. The dichotomy of Beauty vs Ugliness. (which translates to good vs. evil)
Your morality- your worthiness was directly related to your appearance. No ugly, disabled, person of color, queer person could be morally good under this idea. They were monsters drawn in the margins of books, They were depicted on the walls of churches as a warning that beauty outside reflected the soul inside. People who were different in any way were specifically used to tell tales of morality. Beauty signified you were favored by god. Ugliness showed you were marked as evil.
While for the most part we’ve grown as a society, accepted new ideas of thought, That idea of beauty vs ugliness hasn’t remotely gone away for centuries. A large part of our society is built on the foundation of these western beauty standards and appearances. How you present yourself, your social status markers, how many friends you have, how jealous other people are of your life. Actors, musicians, influencers, models, even many activists are valued, respected, and listened to for their beauty. The ableist view is, as someone who is disabled, who is vulnerable, how can society see them as worthy?
Shortly after this dichotomy of good vs evil, beauty vs ugly was really engrained in medieval and renaissance society, Europeans started “exploring” and violently taking over inhabited lands to steal their resources and subjugate the inhabitants. Those that they didn’t kill, were forced to be a part of this status quo with religion at the heart of this power structure. Because of white supremacy and imperialism, now there was a need for a social hierarchy, what type of person was deemed worthy. And a person who was disabled, who acted differently, who challenged those social norms just by existing was a threat.
So, how is the complex history of ableism being tied to morality still relevant today? It’s actually really simple. As a society, even though things have changed slowly, ideas have gotten more progressive, more people have a voice who have been silenced. The power structures that are still in place today, are the same power structures that have been in place for centuries. Wealth, power, influence, and religio. It’s all dependent on the status quo. Without the people in the middle and lower classes upholding that status quo, repeating those values, and judging those who stray from those values- those systems of power have no meaning. And if they have no meaning- Everything that those middle class people have suppressed and changed to fit that status quo has been for nothing.
So being a neurodivergent person, a disabled, even a queer person whose existance challenges that status quo, it’s going to be met with small mindedness, hatred, and ableism. There is going to be a note of jealousy, in those ableist remarks, “you’re just lazy, you haven’t applied yourself, you need to just push through- man up.” Because they were forced to push through. Because they have been shaped by these external pressures to be normal “or else”, and now they are face to face with people who have no choice but to be authentic to themselves, they can’t shape themselves to fit a status quo. So they turn to what they know- judging and policing others to fit into the small mold of what is deemed normal, and morally acceptable.
Which brings to the issue of when disability is accepted- it can only be seen through a pitying lens- like that found in inspiration porn. Which I will dig into that topic in another post.