That we are unhappy, asexual, “little angels”, that we cannot work. There are still many erroneous beliefs deeply rooted in the imaginary of society regarding people with disability that hinder a true inclusion in all fields. Dismantling these prejudices and barriers is essential to naturalize disability as part of the diversity.
Why do people tend to assume that disability is a tragedy? While it is true that disability brings a world of challenges that are not easy (depending on the environment, condition and circumstances), there is a general idea around a tragic vision of disability and that generates pity, sorrow and compassion. This conception can be seen embodied in expressions such as “poor thing”, “suffers” that have to do with a logic tending to assistentialism far from believing in the possibilities and capacities of that person.
Thinking of disability as a tragedy invites us to think of the people who face it, and their families, as unhappy, incapable and dependent. Currently, it is still conceived that someone happy and full is one who meets certain established normal parameters. However, not only do many people with disabilities live a full life, but most of the time the condition has more to do with the barriers and obstacles of society than with the condition itself.
2) Disability is a disease
Framing disability in diversity means getting rid of the misconception that people with disabilities are sick and need a cure. Disability is not cured, it is accepted because, although our situation sometimes comes from a medical diagnosis (I have this condition, the other has another), people with disabilities are not sick. This enables a logic of care that does not allow considering the person with a disability as independent.
Although the medical condition may exist, disability is not a disease to the extent that, far from being something inherent to the person and as stated in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “it results from the interaction between the people and the barriers due to attitude and environment that prevent full and effective participation in society, on an equal basis with others. This means that disability is a social issue that needs to be addressed by all of society.
3) People with disabilities are asexual and are eternal children
One of the biggest disability taboos has to do with sexuality and the erroneous perspective of believing that people with disabilities do not have, or cannot have, a sexual life. Even today, a welfare conception persists in the imaginary that does not consider the person with a disability as a subject of desire or capable of experiencing pleasure, but rather as passive, “incapable” of loving and being loved (or of having casual relationships), infantile and asexual.
The truth is that this thought invalidates thinking of ourselves as desired people, access to sexual and reproductive health rights, especially in women and generates a lack of information. A beauty paradigm still very well established that disbelieves the person with a disability as attractive or sensual together with the lack of visibility and representation tends to collaborate so that we cannot freely access adulthood and all that this implies (partner, economic independence, housing) since we are children for life and socially nullified people.
Sometimes we often hear “he is a little angel” when referring to a boy or girl with a disability, a notion that reproduces this myth about eternal childhood and someone who will always need the care of another person.
4) People with disabilities cannot work
Among the rights that today are not guaranteed to people with disabilities is work. In fact, the great challenge is for companies and organizations to abandon a vision of disability centered on the inability to think about diversity and the benefits that a person with a disability can bring them. With slow progress but still very far from this, people with disabilities continue to be a burden to the extent that supports and adaptations are not naturalized or the strengths and abilities of the person are considered, but rather the shortcomings are mainly considered.
5) People with disabilities cannot be independent
People with disabilities are usually considered within the paradigm of failure and failure and this enables them to be considered as incapable, non-productive, placing the accent on the person instead of the policies and initiatives necessary to provide support and accessibility. That people with disabilities can, beyond their diagnosis and their condition, achieve autonomy is a responsibility of the environment that must establish the mechanisms to make this possible. These myths and prejudices daily lay the foundations of multiple rights violated towards people with disabilities.
In this way, it is necessary to demolish them to begin to naturalize the disability and contemplate people with disabilities as part of diversity and as subjects of rights. Currently, the barriers and obstacles that arise from these prejudices obey a society that is still very far from real and true inclusion.
Communicator and influencer of disability and diversity.
Source: Ambito
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
