Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. At its heart, ableism is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by their disability. Like racism and sexism, ableism classifies entire groups of people as ‘less than,’ and includes harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and generalisations of people with disabilities.[1]
Examples of ableist actions include using an inaccessible venue, casting non-disabled actors to play disabled roles, wearing perfume in a scent-free environment, and not having captioning or audio description on content. Ableist micro-aggressions can include using derogatory language e.g. describing oneself or others as OCD, retarded, crazy or blind.[2]
[1] A. Eisenmenger (2019) ‘Ableism 101: what it is, what it looks like, and what we can do to fix it,’ Access Living.
[2] People With Disability Australia, ‘What is ableist language and what’s the impact of using it?’