Monthly Archives: August 2016

Ableism on the Left

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Here’s some things that highlight for you that ableism is not just a right-wing issue:

My friend got called the r-slur for being an ally to the mental health community and penning an opinion piece on “Stop calling Trump crazy.” The sad and terrible irony is so great I don’t know where to start. Perry noted that people attacked him “who, in theory, are on my side in many issues.” Theoretically, people on the left and people who call themselves progressive Democrats are against ableism and bigotry. Bernie Sanders said Republicans were the reason we needed mental health care as a “joke” in one of the Democratic debates. The audience laughed. But wrong does not mean crazy.

Salman Rushdie, who supported President Obama’s election and has criticized Republicans before, stated the following in an August 12 Tweet: “No, I’m backing the non-insane candidate. And Flann O’Brien would be ashamed you’re using his name.”

salman rushdie assholery

When a disability activist, DandelionGirl on Twitter, expressed that Rushdie’s tweet was distasteful and ableist, lamenting, “<sigh> another fave using ableist language. Will the mental illness stigma ever end?” he responded with the following: ““Ableist?” Oh, sorry. Trump is not insane (unfair to insane people). He’s just “differently abled.””

salman rushdie being an asshole'

Someone commented on a Facebook share about a Trump spokesperson saying something factually inaccurate about President Obama starting the war in Afghanistan. They said of Donald Trump and his spokesperson, “I wonder what mental institution he found her in and why he got her out!”

To conclude what could be an even longer list of ableist actions, the founder of the DiagnoseTrump Twitter hashtag (arguments against this presented by s.e. smith for Bustle in the link) is a Democrat. Many disabled people/people with mental health needs have spoken out against the DiagnoseTrump hashtag and pathologizing Trump, as s.e. smith did for Bustle.

I am a mentally ill, twice-institutionalized in a psych ward person. I read your posts. I read your comments. Many of us do. We all notice. We notice how much you want to blame mental illness for bigotry and believe it’s because people are sick in the head that people could say and do such things. For distance – it’s easier to not acknowledge society’s shortcomings when you can point fingers at mental illness. We notice how much you are willing to throw us under the bus to try and defeat Trump. Defeating Trump is a good cause. Using ableism to do it is unnecessary and increases stigma. It hurts people, including me. We know what you think.

Do you think that actually helps our mental health? Encourages people to reach out to others when they’re struggling? Isn’t that what you want – for us to get treatment? You want us to get treatment, and then blame bigotry on mental illness and use it as a prop to try and defeat Trump. Note that I am not advocating for us to focus on treatment in mental health advocacy – we should have the right to self-directed services if we want them.

But if that’s what you want, then openly linking bigotry to mental illness and joking about mental institutions will not help. Maybe try working to decrease the amount of bigotry in the mental health system (that does not respect racial, disabled, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities). Maybe try advocating for changing the way it involuntarily holds people in psych wards and institutions (get us more community-based services). Maybe try working to make it more affordable? Maybe try not forcing us into a broken system that treats us as unpeople. Maybe don’t talk about us like we’re the root of all evil.

I am holding the left Democrats responsible for perpetuating discrimination and stigma. Trump and and the GOP are assuredly ableist – but for the Democratic Party, a party that sets itself up as being not-Republicans and not-bigoted and more progressive, this betrays their – and society’s – ableism. I have pointed out before that even when journalism is responsible, people’s comments bring out society’s ableism. People’s comments show how little they actually think before they make such comments – or if they do think, they find it acceptable.

We don’t need to throw disabled people, and people with mental health needs, under the bus to make our points. We don’t need to do that to ensure Trump’s defeat.

Ableism is not just a right-wing issue.

Society’s Comments on the Murders of Disabled People

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David Perry noted recently that a family of swans being run over garnered more outrage than the murder of yet another disabled person (Theron Leonard). And even though the media coverage in this incident was plain facts, no supposition of how the disabled person deserved to die somehow – unlike previous incidents – the comments that cropped up proved yet again that we live in an ableist society. I will not repeat the comments here – you can find them yourself if you want to read them at the article link, but they involved the usual narratives of the murder being understandable.

Even when journalism is mostly responsible (apart from the “suffered from cerebral palsy” bit, which is definitely not ideal), the comments betray an ableist society. The comments show the thin veneer of tolerance, if there is even a veneer, held for disabled people. It’s not always as blatant as the time someone said Issy Stapleton deserved it and needed to be institutionalized (a comment on a Daily Beast article), or when the commenter indicates that the parent must have just cracked under the strain. But a lot of times it is. And people still rush to defend it. Thankfully, the comments on the article about Theron Leonard had people who came in to argue against the supposition that filicide of a disabled person is understandable.

To the people rushing in, to the people who withstand the torrent of ableism and comment on these articles to refute these ableist claims – I thank you. To the people rushing to defend blatantly ableist things – the people still rushing to defend the murders of disabled people, claiming they understand the situation far more than any of the disability advocates and activists speaking on the situation – I do hold you responsible, along with those who routinely expose intimate details about their children and call their children violent and burdensome, for allowing the list of people we mourn at Days of Mourning to get longer every year.

Things seem to be getting a little better – the murderers are receiving longer sentences. After being rebuked by disability activists, one news station removed the reference to a mercy killing (though it was abhorrent they would use such language to begin with). And we have many allies who speak out against filicide, and those who attend our Days of Mourning who aren’t disabled. To those people: you will help us create a future where the list of the dead stops growing so fast. You are doing the right thing.

It should be a low bar, but it seems hard for people to step back and realize that disabled people are real people, with real lives and real value. It is apparently hard especially for non-disabled parents of people with disabilities to step back and think about the lives lost due to injustice and murder, and not because the disability made it justifiable. As I and others have pointed out – the murdered disabled people were wanted. The disability community wanted them, we wanted to teach them how to build pride and navigate a world not built for us, we wanted to teach them the value of community and both the joys and hardships of disability.

There seems to be a kneejerk reaction to defend parents in solidarity, to defend the murderer. Systems are not set up to support people with disabilities, but murder with a get out of jail free or with light punishment card is unacceptable. Think about how much we wanted those people to learn about disability community. Think about their lives and value. If someone cannot care for their charge, they should be responsible and seek alternate placements for the person. Murder is wrong. I will say it over and over again. Murder is wrong.

Care about the swans all you want, because even though swans have historically held nothing but the urge to bite me, they shouldn’t have died. But I want you to care about us, too – parenting in general is hard, but disability is no excuse for murder. And even when journalism holds itself to mostly responsible standards, which it often does not, comments betray society’s feelings.

And yes, we notice. We are are so much more than shells of people. We are so much more. The ones you especially don’t think notice also notice. We all can tell when the people around us think we’re better off dead or find us burdens – it shows in your words and in your actions toward us. What do you think that does? Here’s one example. If you care, wouldn’t you want us to be happier (and alive; when we are dead, we are dead, lost from this world)?

Issy Stapleton’s last words before going into a three-day coma were “I love you, Mommy.” We love, and we should be able to trust our parents and caregivers. We are so much more than shells of people. We are so much more. Wouldn’t you want us to live the fullest lives we can, alive? Wouldn’t you want us to be happy, alive?

. . .

Sampling of Articles and Resources on Filicide in the Disability Community

 

Actions, Articles, and Statements on Sagamihara, Japan

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This is a compilation of actions to take, such as vigil-attending, articles, and statements on the murder of 19 disabled residents and injury of 26 more at an institution for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (Tsukui Yamayuri En) in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan. We do not know their names because there is a refusal to release them. The reasoning behind this is that families do not want to have them named as people with disabilities.

Filed under eugenics as well as ableism and disability because killer held eugenics ideals.

Last updated August 19, 2016.

VIGILS FOR SAGAMIHARA

None upcoming that I have located

ARTICLES I HAVE LOCATED ON SAGAMIHARA BY DISABILITY RIGHTS ADVOCATES

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“Japan National Assembly of Disabled People’s International (DPI-Japan)

office@dpi-japan.org

URL: http://www.dpi-japan.org

Statement to Protest Knife Killing of People with Disabilities Sagamihara, JAPAN

Midori Hirano

Chairperson, DPI-JAPAN

We, DPI-JAPAN, work with cross-disability populations to advocate for society where people with and without disabilities can live equally. DPI-JAPAN is the organization of people with disabilities and has 91 affiliates across Japan.

The tragedy of the knife killing occurred on July 26, 2016, at institution for persons with disabilities in Sagamihara city. We express our deepest condolences to the victims who lost their lives and sympathy to those who were injured.

Many details were unclear till further investigation. However, some media reported that the suspect entered the institution during the midnight and attacked. There was also a report that the suspect was saying that “It is better OFF without people with disabilities” to the Kanagawa Police investigation. If this was true, the act is purely caused by the eugenics that questions the existence of persons with disabilities and other minority groups. We, DPI-JAPAN, reaffirm our commitment to fight against eugenics with great anger and grief.

During recent years, there are increased incidents of hate crime and hate speech against persons with disabilities and other minority groups. This particular incident should not be overlooked. Now, more than ever, the need to create a society which does not allow hate crime or hate speech.

Since the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2014 and the effectuation of the Act for Eliminating Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities in April this year, there have been many efforts put in to create inclusive society that does not divide people whether having disability or not.

We will commit ourselves without falter to ensuring the life and dignity of persons with disabilities are protected and to be able to exercise their rights.

Lastly, there were some media reporting of history of hospitalization of the suspect. However, we request media to refrain from reporting the unconfirmed facts which only increase prejudice and prejudgment.”

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