Ableism is not simply prejudice, but rather the combination of prejudice and institutional power. Anyone, regardless of physical or non-physical abilities, can have ableist prejudices, biases, or tendencies. However, in the United States, being nondisabled means having institutional power and privilege; therefore, ableism here is the systemized discrimination of disabled people due to the societal belief that “normal ability” is superior because it is the majority. Ableism in America is systemic because it plays a role in our institutions and society, whether we recognize it or not. To truly understand ableism is to also understand how it is embedded in institutional and cultural systems, rather than focusing on an individual's thinking or actions.
Disabled individuals may sometimes be a party to systemic ableism, without intending to act in that manner, and simply because ableism is so ingrained in our institutions, cultures, and societies. For example, a wheelchair-enabled individual may harass someone with an invisible but chronic disability for parking in a disabled parking spot.
Microaggressions can target any group, but certain microaggressions specifically people with disabilities. Today's casual language includes a number of sayings that most people use in a way that they don't intend to be hurtful, but are certainly microaggressions and can be considered offensive by some people with disabilities, particularly because it diminishes the extent to which people have to live with their disabilities. Some examples include asking people if they're deaf or blind when they don't hear or see something, or stating that you're OCD simply because you like things neat and orderly.
Disability Harassment by
Building on the insights of both disability studies and civil rights scholars, Mark C. Weber frames his examination of disability harassment on the premise that disabled people are members of a minority group that must negotiate an artificial yet often damaging environment of physical and attitudinal barriers. The book considers courts' approaches to the problem of disability harassment, particularly the application of an analogy to race and sex harassment and the development of legal remedies and policy reforms under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). While litigation under the ADA has addressed discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and education, Weber points out that the law has done little to combat disability harassment. He recommends that arguments based on unused provisions of the ADA should be developed and new legal remedies advanced to address the problem. Disability Harassment also draws on case law to explore special problems of harassment in the public schools, and closes with an appeal to judges and lawmakers for expanded legal protection against harassment.
The disability rights movement: From charity to confrontation by
Based on interviews with almost a hundred activists, this book provides a detailed history of the struggle for disability rights in the United States. It is a complex story of shifts in consciousness and shifts in policy, of changing focuses on particular disabilities such as blindness, deafness, polio, quadriplegia, psychiatric and developmental disabilities, chronic conditions (for example, cancer and heart disease), and AIDS, and of activism and policymaking across disabilities. Referring to the Americans with Disabilities Act as "every American's insurance policy," the authors recount the genesis of this civil rights approach to disability, from the almost forgotten disability activism of the 1930s to the independent living movement of the 1970s to the call for disability pride of the 1990s. Like other civil rights struggles, the disability rights movement took place in the streets and in the courts as activists fought for change in the schools, the workplace, and in the legal system. They continue to fight for effective access to the necessities of everyday life -- to telephones, buses, planes, public buildings, restaurants, and toilets. The history of disability rights mirrors the history of the country. Both World Wars sparked changes in disability policy and changes in medical technology as veterans without without limbs and with other disabilities return home. The empowerment of people with disabilities has become another chapter in the struggles over identity politics that began in the 1960s. Today, with the expanding ability of people with disabilities to enter the workforce, and a growing elderly population increasingly significant at a time when HMOs are trying to contain healthcare expenditures.
Hidden talent: How leading companies hire, retain, and benefit from people with disabilities by
Despite the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, many forms of discrimination against people with disabilities are still practiced, denying opportunity for employees, as well as the employers who might hire and support them. Based on a multi-year research project by a team of experts in human resource management, economics, and communications, Hidden Talent showcases the innovative practices of organizations that are actively hiring, training, and retaining people with disabilities_and thriving as a result. The authors reveal the roots of disability discrimination and demonstrate the benefits, to employers and employees alike, of investing in disabled workers, featuring in-depth case examples. Additional resources, including an overview of the ADA, information on tax and legal incentives, and listing of related publications, organizations, and websites, will make this book essential for anyone researching, managing, or experiencing the dynamics of disability in the workplace. The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990 to protect and assist over 20 million people with disabilities. Though its mandates for business are far-reaching, many forms of discrimination are still practiced, denying opportunity for employees and potential employees with disabilites, as well as the companies that might hire and support them. Meanwhile, as many analysts argue, we are heading toward a high-skill labor shortage, with a largely untapped resource ready to fill the gap. Based on a multi-year research project by a team of experts in human resource management, economics, and communications, Hidden Talent showcases the innovative practices of organizations that are actively hiring, training, and retaining people with disabilities_and thriving as a result. The authors reveal the roots of disability discrimination, and demonstrate the benefits, to employers and employees alike, of investing in disabled workers, featuring in-depth case examples. Additional resources, including an overview of the ADA, information on tax and legal incentives, and a listing of related publications, organizations, and websites, will make this book essential for anyone researching, managing, or experiencing the dynamics of disability in the workplace.
The inclusion paradox: The post Obama era and the transformation of global diversity by 
No pity: People with disabilities forging a new civil rights movement by
Now available in paperback and the winner of numerous awards, this is the first popular history of the disability rights movement. Includes conversations with couragous people who fight for freedom of movement, meaningful employment, and a life of dignity and promise.
Venus on Wheels by
In 1976 Gelya Frank began writing about the life of Diane DeVries, a woman born with all the physical and mental equipment she would need to live in our society--except arms and legs. Frank was 28 years old, DeVries 26. This remarkable book--by turns moving, funny, and revelatory--records the relationship that developed between the women over the next twenty years. An empathic listener and participant in DeVries's life, and a scholar of the feminist and disability rights movements, Frank argues that Diane DeVries is a perfect example of an American woman coming of age in the second half of the twentieth century. By addressing the dynamics of power in ethnographic representation, Frank--anthropology's leading expert on life history and life story methods--lays the critical groundwork for a new genre, "cultural biography." Challenged to examine the cultural sources of her initial image of DeVries as limited and flawed, Frank discovers that DeVries is gutsy, buoyant, sexy--and definitely not a victim. While she analyzes the portrayal of women with disabilities in popular culture--from limbless circus performers to suicidal heroines on the TV news--Frank's encounters with DeVries lead her to come to terms with her own "invisible disabilities" motivating the study. Drawing on anthropology, philosophy, psychoanalysis, narrative theory, law, and the history of medicine, Venus on Wheels is an intellectual tour de force.
Working Against Odds by
Mary Grimley Mason describes the viewpoints, struggles, strategies, and triumphs of eighteen women with a range of physical and sensory impairments. She relates how each came to terms with her disability and achieved self-identity and self-sufficiency in an able-bodied world. Drawing on thirty extensive interviews, Mason skillfully interweaves her own experience of childhood polio with the voices of impaired women across generations and from diverse race, ethnic, class, and work backgrounds. Although each woman's story and perspective are unique, the compelling narratives in this illuminating and teachable volume reveal shared concerns and feelings about the ways in which the disabled see themselves, how others perceive the impaired, and how our workplace culture perpetuates the double hindrance of gender and disability discrimination. The women profiled here express in their own words the process of claiming their disability and integrating it into their identity, the adjustment to various dependencies and caregivers, and approaches to coping with social discrimination and marginalization. They also discuss overcoming such obstacles in the workplace as an employer's refusal to grant an interview, lack of accommodations after employment, and negative stereotyping on the job or in job placement. In these accounts we meet, for example, Debbie, born with cerebral palsy, who struggled to get her family to accept her as she is; Barbara, born with orthopedic problems, who confronted her mother's fear that she would not be employed or find a husband; and Adrienne, blind from birth, who aggressively confronted discrimination in the workplace through litigation. Taken together, the stories of these ordinary yet remarkable individuals build a sense of community. Working against Odds tells disabled women that they are not alone in grappling with the tremendous barriers to independence and helps able-bodied readers understand the challenging life choices and work experiences of those with impairments. As a whole, the insightful book offers an intimate view of disability history and issues in America.
Blindspot: Hidden biases of good people by
The authors explore the hidden biases we all carry from a lifetime of exposure to cultural attitudes about age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, sexuality, disability status, and nationality.
Care Work by
Leah Piepzna-Samarasinha is a poet and essayist whose most recent book, the memoir Dirty River, was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and the Publishing Triangle's Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction. She is also a long-time member of the disability justice movement, which advocates for the rights of the disabled. In her latest book of essays, Leah writes passionately and personally about disability justice, on subject such as the creation of care webs, collective access, and radically accessible spaces. She also imparts her own survivor skills and wisdom based on her years of activist work, empowering the disabled--in particular, those in queer and/or BIPOC communities--and granting them the necessary tools by which they can imagine a future where no one is left behind. Presently, disability justice and emotional/care work are buzzwords on many people's lips, and the disabled and sick are discovering new ways to build power within themselves and each other; at the same time, those powers remain at risk in this fragile political climate in which we find ourselves. Powerful and passionate, Care Work is a crucial and necessary call to arms.
Cultural diversity, inclusion and justice: Being a community activist by
This book is not an impersonal academic treatise on social justice activism but instead the author's description of what social justice activism has looked like through the prism of his eyes. The methods of the book are straightforward, using historical, current and personal data--all of which were inextricably entwined. The text focuses on the truth that bigotry is perpetuated by countless white, black and brown people. More important than academic debates about bigotry, the book is about negating or preventing bigotry. The author reviews historical incidents and also tells portions of his own life stories. His goal is to help readers know his perceptions of bigotry and then compare and contrast his perceptions with their own. The text is organized in major topics: Beginnings of Bigotry; Creation of a Nation; Migrants, Immigrants and Slaves; Quest for Civil Rights; Women's Rights Movement; Disability Rights Movement; Elder Rights Movement; LGBTQ Rights Movement; Social Class Matters; and Going Forward. This book is written to be actively read and to initiate meaningful conversations about social justice. The primary audiences for the text are college students who are majoring in social and behavioral sciences, social work and health care. The book will also be a valuable resource to teachers, community activists, and other persons who want to enhance their knowledge of racism, sexism, homonegativity, ableism, ageism, xenophobia and classism.
Disability hate speech: Social, cultural and political contexts by
This book, the first to specifically focus on disability hate speech, explains what disability hate speech is, why it is important, what laws regulate it (both online and in person) and how it is different from other forms of hate. Unfortunately, disability is often ignored or overlooked in academic, legal, political, and cultural analyses of the broader problem of hate speech. Its unique personal, ideological, economic, political and legal dimensions have not been recognized - until now. Disability hate speech is an everyday experience for many people, leaving terrible psycho-emotional scars. This book includes personal testimonies from victims discussing the personal impact of disability hate speech, explaining in detail how such hatred affects them. It also presents legal, historical, psychological, and cultural analyses, including the results of the first surveys and in-depth interviews ever conducted on this topic in some countries. This book makes a vital contribution to understanding disability hatred and prejudice, and will be of particular interest to those studying issues associated with hate speech, disability, psychology, law, and prejudice.
Disfigured: On fairy tales, disability, and making space by
Fairy tales shape how we see the world, so what happens when you identify more with the Beast than Beauty? If every disabled character is mocked and mistreated, how does the Beast ever imagine a happily-ever-after? Amanda Leduc looks at fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm to Disney, showing us how they influence our expectations and behaviour and linking the quest for disability rights to new kinds of stories that celebrate difference. "Leduc persuasively illustrates the power of stories to affect reality in this painstakingly researched and provocative study that invites us to consider our favorite folktales from another angle." --Sara Shreve, Library Journal
Film, comedy, and disability: Understanding humour and genre in cinematic constructions of impairment and disability by
Comedy and humour have frequently played a key role in disabled people's lives, for better or for worse. Comedy has also played a crucial part in constructing cultural representations of disability and impairments, contributing to the formation and maintenance of cultural attitudes towards disabled people, and potentially shaping disabled people's images of themselves. As a complex and often polysemic form of communication, there is a need for greater understanding of the way we make meanings from comedy. This is the first book which explores the specific role of comedic film genres in representations of disability and impairment. Wilde argues that there is a need to explore different ways to synthesise Critical/Disability Studies with Film Studies approaches, and that a better understanding of genre conventions is necessary if we are to understand the conditions of possibility for new representational forms and challenges to ableism. After a discussion of the possibilities of a 'fusion' between Disability Studies and Film Studies, and a consideration of the relationships of comedy to disability, Wilde undertakes analysis of contemporary films from the romantic comedy, satire, and gross-out genres. Analysis is focused upon the place of disabled and non-disabled people in particular films, considering visual, audio, and narrative dimensions of representation and the ways they might shape the expectations of film audiences. This book is of particular value to those in Film and Media Studies, and Critical/Disability Studies, especially for those who are investigating more inclusive practices in cultural representation.
A historical sociology of disability: Human validity and invalidity from antiquity to early modernity by
Covering the period from Antiquity to Early Modernity, A Historical Sociology of Disability argues that disabled people have been treated in Western society as good to mistreat and - with the rise of Christianity - good to be good to. It examines the place and role of disabled people in the moral economy of the successive cultures that have constituted 'Western civilisation'. This book is the story of disability as it is imagined and re-imagined through the cultural lens of ableism. It is a story of invalidation; of the material habituations of culture and moral sentiment that paint pictures of disability as 'what not to be'. The author examines the forces of moral regulation that fall violently in behind the dehumanising, ontological fait accompli of disability invalidation, and explores the ways in which the normate community conceived of, narrated and acted in relation to disability. A Historical Sociology of Disability will be of interest to all scholars, students and activists working in the field of Disability Studies, as well as sociology, education, philosophy, theology and history. It will appeal to anyone who is interested in the past, present and future of the 'last civil rights movement'.
Identity-Based student activism: Power and oppression on college campuses by
Historically and contemporarily, student activists have worked to address oppression on college and university campuses. This book explores the experiences of students engaged in identity-based activism today as it relates to racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and other forms of oppression. Grounded by a national study on student activism and the authors' combined 40 years of experience working in higher education, Identity-Based Student Activism uses a critical, power-conscious lens to unpack the history of identity-based activism, relationships between activists and administrators, and student activism as labor. This book provides an opportunity for administrators, educators, faculty, and student activists to reflect on their current ideas and behaviors around activism and consider new ways for improving their relationships with each other, and ultimately, their campus climates.
Undoing ableism: Teaching about disability in K-12 classrooms by
Undoing Ableism is a sourcebook for teaching about disability and anti-ableism in K-12 classrooms. Conceptually grounded in disability studies, critical pedagogy, and social justice education, this book provides both a rationale as well as strategies for broad-based inquiries that allow students to examine social and cultural foundations of oppression, learn to disrupt ableism, and position themselves as agents of social change. Using an interactive style, the book provides tools teachers can use to facilitate authentic dialogues with students about constructed meanings of disability, the nature of belongingness, and the creation of inclusive communities.
Covers social issues and includes pro and con viewpoint articles, reference articles, full-text magazines, academic journals, newspapers, primary source documents, government and organizational statistics, multimedia, and links to pertinent websites.
Search 16 ProQuest social science databases at once.
Indexing and full-text of academic journals covering social science disciplines including anthropology, criminology, economics, education, political science, psychology, social work and sociology.
Titles covering Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theatre and Cultural Studies.
International literature of sociology and social work including culture and social structure, history and theory of sociology, social psychology, substance abuse and addiction and more.
This link opens in a new windowExplores cultural differences and contributions and influences in the global community.
Tomorrow Makers: A Penn College Podcast
Coming to you from the campus of Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, PA, this tomorrow-minded podcast dives into impactful topics like diversity and inclusion and engaging societal and cultural considerations. Stories explore how we learn, live, work, and play at Penn College and across the world. Through authentic dialogue with faculty, students, staff, and industry experts, our goal is to spark meaningful conversations that satisfy the curiosity that connects us all. Each unique episode taps into our guest’s “passion project” or area of expertise.
In the interest of full disclosure, the creator of and collaborators for this guide identify with some, but not all of the oppressed identities presented here. As members of the Penn College community, we strive to encourage diversity, inclusion, awareness, equality, and equity. While I have made an attempt to collect and present some of the more timely, relevant, and quality resources on the topics of oppression, I recognize that my collaborators and I are still susceptible to our own implicit biases, privilege, and perspectives. Given our own limited experiences, any thoughts, comments, or suggestions, particularly from members of any marginalized populations, are sincerely welcomed and greatly appreciated.