What is Ableism?

When I was researching What is Prejudice? I noted that various forms of discrimination had their own "ism". I wondered if disability has its own "ism" and if so what is that "ism"? These are some common "isms":

Racism: The belief that physical characteristics decide the culture of a person, and that those racial characteristics make certain racial groups superior.
Sexism: Making negative statements regarding women from the point of view that men are superior to women.
Classism: A biased belief that one class is superior to another based on social and economic factors.
Ageism: Discriminating against people based on their age.

Add to this list Ableism, also ablism: The idea that disabled people are discriminated against by those without disability. Ableism in the form of stigma and prejudice is commonly experienced by persons with disabilities (PWDs), (see Summary of findings of the Uganda Disability Review Part 1 of 2). The labeling of discrimination against people with disabilities (PWDs) as ableism helps understanding the process of prejudice and stigma. What then is ableism? Wikipedia says:

Ableism characterizes persons as defined by their disabilities, and as inferior to the non-disabled...
In ableist societies, able-bodiedness is viewed as the norm; people with disabilities are viewed as deviating from that norm. A disability is seen as something to overcome or to fix, for example through medical treatments. The ableist worldview holds that disability is an error or a failing rather than a simple consequence of human diversity, akin to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender. Examples of ableism can be seen in society. People with disabilities being spoken for and spoken about, as if they were not present: a lack of autonomy. An example may be ordering at a restaurant, the waiter speaking to an aid or a companion instead of to the person directly.

Kylie Jenner

Ableism, like feminism, has a role to play in contemporary culture. For people with disabilities (PWDs) it is a means of commenting on and drawing attention to discriminatory practices. For instance the model Kylie Jenner has been criticized for this photo shoot (see Kylie Jenner branded 'ableist' over magazine photo shoot in wheelchair). Is it wrong for a non disabled model to be photographed in a wheelchair?

Beth Grossman, Head of Policy at disability charity Scope, told The Independent: "If Interview Magazine wanted a glamorous, sexy wheelchair user on its front cover it’s a shame they couldn’t use someone disabled.
"Having a non-disabled person in a wheelchair, as a provocative fashion prop, will offend many disabled people. It’s rare that we see aspirational and authentic reflections of disabled people in advertising and the media.
"If we’re going to challenge assumptions about disability, particularly about sex and disability, we need to share real-life depictions and experiences."

Ableism like feminism considers language very carefully. How we speak defines our attitude to the world. It should be clear that ableism is not all about language, but it is certainly interesting to consider how we use language. Feminists first drew my attention to the use of language in their criticism of words like "chairman" implying that the person in the chair of a meeting had to be a man. Or again gender specific terms like actress, usherette and comedienne take the masculine bases and feminize them. These words can be replaced with their gender neutral equivalents: Actor, usher and comedian. Similarly, ableism identifies words that may be considered demeaning to the disabled. Take a look at this list of examples of Ableist/Language, all these words are used in everyday speech. How do you use these words?

Barren: Refers to people who are infertile, carries sexist connotations as well as ableist ones.
Blind to ____ / turn a blind eye to ____ / blinded by ignorance/bigotry/etc.: Refers to Blind, low-vision, or sight-limited people.
Bound to a wheelchair (wheelchair bound): Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities.
Confined to a wheelchair: Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities.
Crazy: Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Cretin : Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.
Cripple/Crippled (by ____): Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities.
Daft : Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Deaf-Mute: Refers to Deaf or hard of hearing people.
Deaf to ____ / turn a deaf ear to ____ / etc.: Refers to Deaf or hard of hearing people.
Derp (also herp-derp and variations): Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.
Diffability: Can refer to any person with a disability.
Differently abled: Can refer to any person with a disability.
Dumb: Refers to Deaf or hard of hearing people, people with speech-related disabilities, or people with linguistic or communication disorders or disabilities.
Feeble-Minded: Refers to people with mental, psychiatric, intellectual, or developmental disabilities.
Handicap(ped): Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities.
Handicapable: Usually refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities, but can also mean any person with a disability.
Harelip: Refers to people with cleft-lip palette or similar facial deformities.
Hearing-Impaired: Refers to d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
Idiot(ic): Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.
Imbecile: Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.
Insane or Insanity: Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Invalid (as a noun, as in "my neighbor is an invalid and never goes outside"): Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities or chronic health conditions.
Lame: Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities.
Loony/Loony Bin: Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Lunatic: Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Madhouse/Mad/Madman: Refers to an institution housing people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Manic: Refers to someone with bipolar (used to be called manic depression).
Maniac: Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Mental/Mental Case: Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Mental Defective: Refers to people with mental, psychiatric, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities.
Midget:Refers to little people or people with small stature or a form of dwarfism.
Mongoloid: Refers to people with intellectual disabilities and specifically Down Syndrome. Derives from a double-whammy of racism AND ableism, from the belief that people with Down Syndrome look like people from Mongolia.
Moron(ic): Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.
Nuts: Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Psycho: Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Psychopath(ic): Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Psycho(tic): Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Retard(ed)/[anything]-tard: Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.
[you belong on the] Short-bus/ that's short-bus material/etc.: Refers to people with intellectual, learning, or other mental disabilities.
Simpleton: Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.
Spaz(zed): Refers to people with cerebral palsy or similar neurological disabilities.
Specially Abled: Can refer to any person with a disability.
Special Needs: Usually refers to people with learning, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, but can mean any person with a disability.
Stupid: Refers to people with intellectual disabilities (i.e. "in a stupor").
Suffers from ____: Can refer to any person with a disability.
Wacko/Whacko: Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

The term "impairment" is sometimes acceptable and sometimes not. Blind, low-vision, and limited-sight people generally find "visual impairment" or "vision impairment" offensive. Likewise, d/Deaf and hard of hearing people generally find "hearing impairment" offensive. Other disability communities use the word commonly, as in, "learning impairment," "cognitive impairment," or "functional impairment." Your mileage may vary.

Instead of an ableist word, perhaps you actually meant to say: Asinine. Bad. Bleak. Boring. Bullish. Callous. Careless. Confusing. Contemptible. Coward. Crappy. Dense. Devoid of _____. Disgusting. Dull. Enraged. Evil. Extremist. Furious. Gross. Half-hearted. Horrible. Ignoramus. Ignorant. Impolite. Inane. Incomprehensible. Inconsiderate. Inconsistent. Infuriating. Insensible. Insipid. Irrational. Jerk. Lacking in _____. Livid. Mean. Nasty. Nefarious. Nonsense. Nonsensical. Obtuse. Outrageous. Overwrought. Paradoxical. Pathetic. Petulant. Puissant. Putrid. Rage-inducing. Reckless. Ridiculous. Rude. Scornful. Self-contradictory. Shameful. Solipsistic. Spurious. Terrible. Tyrannical. Unbelievable. Unconscionable. Unheard of. Uninspired. Unoriginal. Unthinkable. Unthinking. Vapid. Vile. Vomit-inducing. Without any _____ whatsoever. Wretched.

For describing people with disabilities/disabled people in general: Disabled. Has a disability. With a disability. With a chronic health condition. Has a chronic health condition. Neuroatypical. Neurodivergent.

For describing people on the autism spectrum: On the autism spectrum. Autistic. With autism [if preferred by individual]. Aspie [if preferred by individual]

For describing people with intellectual disabilities: With an intellectual disability.Has an intellectual disability. With a cognitive disability. Has a cognitive disability.

For describing people with sensory disabilities: Blind. Low vision. Deaf. Hard of hearing.

For describing people with physical or mobility disabilities: With a physical disability. With a mobility disability. Uses a wheelchair. In a wheelchair. Uses crutches. Uses a cane. Uses a walker. Has [specific condition here].

To be clear the authors of the article make the following comment about ableism:

Ableism is not a list of bad words. Language is "one" tool of an oppressive system. Being aware of language -- for those of us who have the privilege of being able to change our language -- can help us understand how pervasive ableism is. Ableism is systematic, institutional devaluing of bodies and minds deemed deviant, abnormal, defective, subhuman, less than.

How does ableism help in thinking about the world? Take a look at these ideas from this blog post, 10 Ways to Avoid Everyday Ableism. It shows the confrontation between the disabled and the idea of "abled-ness":

Since able-bodied privilege is one of the most unrecognizable forms of privilege in society, today we’re going to talk about ten ways that you can avoid ableism in everyday life.

1. Take the Stairs: If a person with a disability needs to use the elevator, this seems like a no-brainer, right? Apparently not. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been waiting for an elevator with a large group of able-bodied people in front of me only to watch them all squeeze on and leave me to wait for the next one... If you see a person with a disability in line behind you for the elevator, ask yourself, “Am I using this as a necessity or convenience?”
2. Don’t Use Handicapped Restrooms: I have found that this issue makes people very annoyed because it’s a choice that they make unconsciously and will try to come up with a list of circumstances where it’s okay to use the accessible restroom.
3. Don’t Patronize Us: I could go on about the offensive use of baby talk for hours, but what it boils down to is blanket stereotypes. Don’t assume someone’s intellectual capacity based on their physical capabilities or lack thereof. You would never assume that someone with poor grammar or a lisp couldn’t use their body properly, so why on earth does the opposite apply?
4. Don’t Address Us through an Able-Bodied Person: Because of my physical impairments, I’m perceived socially as a small child. Sometimes this results in the assumption that I am incapable of processing direct speech. I have had multiple people on different occasions ask my mom if I am able to speak while I am right next to her and clearly listening.
5. Don’t Ask ‘What Happened’: People with disabilities are often subjected to a barrage of questions. Namely, able-bodied people will often assume that our existence represents some kind of mystery that they need to get to the bottom of. This means that people frequently ask us for the truth or origin story of our condition. Disability is usually (and misguidedly) associated with a moment of trauma, like an accident. People put on their ethnographer hat and want to find out why you’re different. It always makes me laugh that people act disappointed when I tell them I was born with cerebral palsy, as if that’s too mundane... I have had to patiently explain why I’m in a wheelchair to far too many children that I don’t know in public while their parents look on affectionately at their child’s inquisitiveness. Parents seem to interpret it as a welcome social lesson that a person with a disability just happened to come by to underscore the importance of tolerance and accepting difference.
6. Make Sure All Venues Are Accessible: And if they’re not not, think about how they can be modified. It’s always a bummer when you have to constantly change your plans or are just flat-out excluded from an activity because someone forgot to account for accessibility. This can be anything from visiting friends to attending public events.
7. Avoid Misguided Comments: “I wish I had a chair!” Most of the time, people are very tickled with themselves to announce this jealousy to me. Able-bodied people think they’re empowering us by flipping the scripts and insisting that they envy us in some way.
8. Stop Assuming We Want to Be Able-Bodied: Many people interpret my appreciation for dance as sad because I’m supposedly pining after something that I can’t do. A lot of people are sports fans, but that doesn’t mean everyone has a secret desire to be a quarterback.
9. Stop Calling Us Inspirational: On a superficial level, it’s a positive thing to be considered inspiring – until you consider the implications. When you tell someone with a disability or someone who is otherwise perceived as disadvantaged that you find them inspiring, you are essentially saying that you would find their way of life insufferable and wouldn’t be able to cope if the roles were reversed. While it’s meant to be a compliment to perseverance, it’s not exactly the best way to raise someone’s self-esteem or general outlook.
10. Remember: People with Disabilities Are People First: It’s always important to remind yourself of an individual’s personhood instead of the circumstances that define them. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect.

Superficial circumstances, especially ones as obvious as physical disability, can obscure who a person really is. Don’t sell yourself short with stereotypes. Get to know us. Humanity should be shared, not allocated in increments based on privilege or experiences. A person with a disability could change your perspective on things, but it’s just as likely that you could change ours, too.

Ableism is a powerful tool for examining disability. Its focuses on discrimination and asks everyone what is normal? And what does it mean to be disabled? The answers that ableism gives impact all of parts of society. Through ableism's powerful lens it is possible to evaluate individual and group responses to disability and better understand society and the individual in society.