my good friend who i really like called me ableist. context? i was talking to her about a guy with a disability. that’s all i said, i wasn’t making fun of such a guy.
i said something like the guy couldn’t talk correctly and i felt bad for him, and i also can’t talk correctly at times (stutter)
she said i was being rude and ableist, and the older lady/teacher i was with said how dare i say such a thing and label the guy, that i should be ashamed for “making the guy on the video feel bad”.
i, too, have a disability, and they asked me, “how would you feel someone said you had a disability!?”
i said i wouldn’t care because i do. they got mad.
she and the teacher forgave me, but i don’t know how to feel about this. i’m still trying to process everything and i don’t get it.
everyone else says that i didn’t say anything discriminatory at all, since i wasn’t making fun of him or using slurs.
how odd that people outside the sc uses that word
Kind of sounds like an instance of euphemism treadmill.
probably
edit: yes it is
The wording “couldn’t talk correctly” can come across as ableist because of the implication that it’s their problem. They speak differently than you, or whomever.
Whether someone has a speech impediment, a thick accent, speaks another language, or is non-verbal, doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the two of us are able to communicate effectively and that’s a two way street.
It IS ableist to expect everyone to communicate the same way - and by saying that this person doesn’t speak correctly, you may have given your friend that impression. Knowing that you yourself have struggled with a speech impediment, my guess is that what you were trying to convey was that you felt badly about the challenges that person may face in a very ableist society.
Let me know if you think I’m totally off base - I’m really interested in folks perspectives.
oooohhhh ok i get it
