At the onset what has to be understood is that ableism is a not a made-up word that a protester created just to annoy the “able” as thought. It is a word with a history that people with disabilities have been using to define their experiences for the last 30 years.

Ableism is the transparent oppression you believe does not exist. It is discrimination against people with disabilities, denial of proper accessibility, rejection of disabled applicants for jobs, institutionalization, including the expression of hate for people with disabilities, etc.

No denying there are a lot of stereotypes associated with the disability of any kind; nevertheless it should never serve as a sort of justification for discrimination imposed on or against the people with disability. In our ablest society disability is viewed as a departure from the general population seen as something to overcome or to fix.

The world views disability as an error or a failing rather than an outcome of human diversity, of the same kind as of race or gender. One common type of ableist behavior denies the authority of speaking for themselves.

The other day I went to a café with a cousin sister. All the questions concerning me were addressed to her not me as if I’m unable to comprehend what she was saying.

This happens so often, they assume that you have a mental illness, are deaf, blind, whatever, people ‘Giving You More Disabilities than You Have’. I don’t know why, but it’s just what people see when they see disability.

The prejudice can be pretty subtle; for example, calling somebody “inspirational” for striving to get that educational degree they always wanted or else getting married when they have a disability, thus implying that people with disabilities don’t deserve to get married or educated.

Ableism is when the society says “be you” then judge for failing because people with disability are expected to act as though they are non-disabled. Ableism is every healthy person out there who declares, “Oh, I know just how you feel! “and then proceeds to counter the words with action.

The thing to remember is to enlighten yourself about the topic, discuss, read about it, be respectful and kind to the people with disability, just as you would to anyone else because it was never “you vs. them”.  Ableism is evil, but collectively, we can work to expose and destroy it for good.