Disablism/Ableism

Ableism is systemic oppression based on disabilities. It is a system granting advantages for individuals without disabilities over individuals with disabilities. The chapter differentiates ableism and disablism in addition to differentiating medical model and social model. Factors contributing to continued ableism, discrimination, and prejudice (e.g., social dominance theory, systemic and internalized oppression and privilege, the role of beliefs and unconscious bias, binary thinking, automatic activation of information processing, etc.) are discussed. The chapter postulates paradigm shifts in thinking and learning as effective tools for not only dismantling ableism to provide social justice and equity for people with disability/impairment but also to understand neurodiversity and the ability to see a real person who has multiple identities and their intersectionality. The chapter provides transformative learning activities immediately after discussing the relevant concept for readers to learn to access their unconscious bias through exploring their inner experience and to connect their conceptual understanding to their lived experience.