âPower concedes nothing without a demandâÂ
- 2021 is our election to demand disability rights
Whereas issues of race, gender, gender identity & expression, and sexual orientation are widely accepted by virtually everyone concerned with human rights today, disability discrimination and oppression are still mostly ignored, even though disability rights are protected by the Charter, Human Rights Codes, and by the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and its optional protocol.
Ignoring a Whole Social Movement
The notions of disability rights are largely unknown among progressives and conservatives and yet are a living, breathing part of contemporary Canadian society. These rights notions are founded on the very simple concept that it is the structural and attitudinal barriers of society, not medical impairments, that prevent people with disabilities from achieving their rights. In other words, disability is largely a social construct determined by the cost-cutting constraints of an increasingly neoliberal capitalism. An entire social movement is out there fighting discrimination daily, but is ignored by both progressives, conservatives and the mainstream media.
This is no small problem. In virtually every area of social life, people with disabilities face systemic discrimination from employment to transportation to income levels to education and even in expressing their sexuality and their right to have relationships.. It should give pause that at least with respect to services, the Americans, with a militant, grassroots disability-rights movement and a strong Americans with Disabilities Act in place, have arguably removed more barriers more systematically than here in Canada. This is, in part, a result of direct-action tactics undertaken by the American disability-rights activists like ADAPT, that has engaged in confrontational in-your-face demonstrations to get their message heard.
Universities, colleges and public schools are another area where barriers, both physical and attitudinal, are systemic across Canada. It is not surprising that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities remains enormous, even with a robust economy over the last several years.
A Disability Rights Agenda
What, then, is to be done? Clearly the broad Left and Right need to pay more attention to disability rights. Disability is arguably the least well-theorized of the "new social movements," yet astonishingly, most activists on the Right or Left, whether they are feminists, Greens or anti-poverty activists, or those in business, politics, or civil society they have and display little or no interest in the topic. Publications on the Left and Right rarely write about it. While even the most sectarian of Left or Right organizations have been forced to at least reconsider their approach to race, gender and sexual identity, few have anything to say about disability politics and disability rights. On a practical level, meetings, be they about globalization or feminism, the climate crisis or gay rights, politics, business or social change are often held at notoriously inaccessible locations, without captioning or sign language with embarrassed apologies issued after the fact. Material in alternative formats for those with visual impairments is often only available late or not at all.
There is so much work to be done, theoretical and practical, that only the most tentative of projects can be outlined here. However, one crucial item that merits consideration is providing disabled people with an adequate standard of living and social protection. In order to function as full and equal citizens, people with disabilities need an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families sufficient for housing, food, clothing, clean water, and affordable access to services, devices, and assistance for their disability related needs. Yet, as the debate is currently framed, the voices of disabled people are excluded and restrained.
Our article 28 right to an adequate standard of living and social protection was removed from the provincial governmentâs âAccessibility Through Legislationâ consultations by the government and its government funded service providers and advisers (such as the large disability charities and business groups) There is no reason why progressives and conservatives (other than fear and disinterests) cannot form a cohesive alliance with disability-rights advocates to campaign for the full implementation of our rights under the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities beginning with our article 28 rights.
Thus, social actors of all stripes need to support disability-rights activists in their day-to-day struggles, systematically incorporate disability rights analysis in all things disability related, and continually strive to ensure that disabled people are fully included in all areas of society.
Discrimination in favor of nondisabled people; prejudice against or disregard of the needs of disabled people.
How should we approach unintentional ableism? Erin Ball. October 12, 2019 Saturday, Kingston Whig-Standard. (Image: Erin Ball performing at the St. John's International Circus Fest) https://www.thewhig.com/opinion/columnists/unintentional-ableism
Ableism In The Workplace: When Trying Harder Doesnât Work https://www.forbes.com/sites/drnancydoyle/2019/11/24/ableism-in-the-workplace-when-trying-harder-doesnt-work/?fbclid=IwAR1x1NVh7pRXfXjEeUH3UCbrzc9HA0FySZybLU_lMjgKC-2rEHZOrus-3Jk#6997a8bd15ae
I face ableism in the workplace: What I wish my company did differently https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/i-face-ableism-in-the-workplace-and-heres-what-i-wish-my-company-did-differently?fbclid=IwAR0UpIE5ncuosV8RfiwDxTHA2FvG65DloAjUEswuA1pl_2VOPIBrXNWNIpM
Published by The BC Disability Caucus
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Want to know more about the BC Disability Caucus? Listen to a recent podcast/ interview by Scott Neigh https://goo.gl/obq2mg
Advancing the interests of BC's disabled
2020 is our year to demand disability rights "Power concedes nothing without a demand" - Frederick Douglass
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