Ableism and Disableism: Patronized Discrimination
The farce of society and religion
‘Life is not fair.’
I have often heard this phrase from people around me. Growing up in a conservative society and being queer, I can relate to that. Our society has long discriminated against a minority group due to our privilege of being able-bodied. This minority group has been in the shadows till they started speaking up for themselves. They have faced the abled society’s ignorance, apathy, and callousness for a long time. They are the community of the differently-abled. Have we ever thought about their plight? How much had life been fair to a person with a disability compared to a non-disabled person?
Disability and its global status
The term ‘Disability’ has numerous dimensions. Today, the complication with the structure and functioning of a body part is called an impairment. If that condition limits an individual from functioning properly, then that is called activity limitation [1]. If that disability leads to the sufferer incapable of performing her role than her peers, it is called a handicap.
Disability is a broad concept that includes all the above aspects. According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD, 2006), Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which in interaction with various obstructions may inhibit their wholesome societal participation on an equal basis than their peers.
The wide variety and complications found in Disability have made its classification and understanding to be complicated. Globally, there are three models to define the complexity of disability. They are the:
- Charity Model: This model concentrates on the impairments of the people with disabilities by typecasting them as victims who need non-disabled people’s pity and care.
- Medical Model: This model views disability as impairment-centric, caused by a pathological condition, and tends to consider it an ailment to be cured. It is ignorant of the environmental and social hindrances of disability.
- Social Model: This model views disability as something constructed by the society which discriminates against persons with disability from wholesome participation due to environmental, attitudinal, and institutional barriers. It has a society-centric approach of changing the attitudes, policies, and practices for effective participation and removing obstacles. It also speaks of the need to alleviate issues arising out of impairments through medical intervention. However, It neglects the empowerment of persons with disabilities and the significance of their voices.
- Human rights model: This model considers all the aspects of the social model and addresses its main weakness of individual empowerment of persons with disabilities. It makes them the central actors of their lives as rights holders, the decision-makers, and citizens.
- Interactional models: It has mainly two types of models. One is based on the International Classification of functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), and the other is based on the capability approach of disability. The former addresses disability as something sprouting out of negative interaction between health conditions and the context of environmental and personal factors. The latter emphasizes disability on the functional and capability levels. The functional level approach signifies the individual’s incapability of doing something she loves or desires due to the disability. The capability level approach illustrates the individual’s deprivation of practical opportunities arising out of her disability.
Some countries report less number of disablement while others more. Rather than the actual disablement of a particular country, this can also indicate the level of measurement followed by the specific country. For example, the UK’s 1996 disability ratio per 1000 of the population was 142, while for Egypt, it was 3 per 1000. The reason for this lies in the level of disability measurement in the two countries. In the Middle East, disablement includes only impairments such as blind, deaf and mute, deaf, amputee, paralyzed, and mentally handicapped. In the West, disablement also includes limitations in seeing, hearing, speaking, walking, running, climbing, carrying, lifting, and out of the home [2]. In India, the types of disability were the same till 2016. In 2016, the section types of disability in the Persons with Disability Act (1995) widened from 7 to 21. However, the idea of inclusion seems to have escaped the present regime’s policies, framework, and governance concerning disability [1].
The above data is a reflection of the level of differences in the understanding of disability. The potential bias and flaws that might arise out of such incomplete understanding can cost heavily for the lives of the persons with disabilities in those particular countries. South Asia has one of the lowest prevalence of disability. It is also one of the least developed and the most populated regions of the world. The disparity in data points to the lack of understanding of disability in this region [1].
Disability, religion, and society
Historically, the perception of disability is biased because of the flawed depiction of disability and persons with disabilities by non-disabled individuals. The portrayal of persons with disabilities in major religions is a reflection of this flaw.
Hinduism perceives disability or impairment as a punishment for previous birth sins. It is also seen as a curse or abomination and a symbol of God’s wrath in Hinduism.
In Christianity, the Old Testament considers disability or impairment a result of ancestral sins. The New Testament seems to have dumped these absurd notions and calls for caring for persons with disabilities.
In the Quran, a chapter speaks of the wrath that Prophet Muhammed had to face from God due to his negligence to a person who is blind(Chapter 80, Page 230). In Islam, serving persons with disabilities is seen as a virtue that God would reward.
Religions have made some progress from their past exclusionary attitude to the present inclusionary attitude towards disability. However, the narrative remains biased due to the very same reason of non-disabled narration of disability.
One of my friends who has visual impairment-Peter*, who is doing his Ph.D. in disability, narrates how his religion Christianity that once didn’t allow them to enter the church, now welcomes them. But, he sighs and continues,
‘People fail to see us as free individuals with our being, instead sees and treats us as patients’
The inherent bias of religious scriptures and their circles towards disability is due to the lack of representation of persons with disabilities in religious, cultural, social, economic, and political spheres. Non-disabled person’s portrayal and thoughts can never fully grasp the disability experience. This portrayal is like a man describing how women are treated in society or a white man describing the experiences of being black in a dominantly white society, or an upper-caste Brahmin describing the experiences of an outcast-untouchable Dalit.
‘By my birth, I will be in heaven is what some of them say,’ said one of my other friends who have a visual impairment- Afzal *, who happens to be a Muslim, ‘people seem to forget that we too are humans with self-respect. The prospect of religious salvation is not the only thing that humans should thrive for.’
Afzal was in the local newspapers once. He was physically abused by a group of hooligans when he was traveling on a train to Delhi.
‘That was horrific. They were drunk. I wanted to use the toilet, but they were blocking the path of the toilet in the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) compartment of the Train. I told them that I want to Pee. To this, they laughed at me and played tricks on me. They started pushing me around. There was another female who was escorting another person with a disability. She told them to behave or else that she will complain. She was verbally abused for this.’
‘ I also told them to behave, or else I will complain to the Railway Police firmly. This might have angered them because the next thing they did was catch hold of my feet and lift me to the air shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram!’
‘They punched and kicked me for a while, after which they threw me like an object. I hit my head and fell. I couldn’t use the toilet for the rest of the journey for 7 hours. All this happened in the PwD compartment of a Train where only PwD and their escorts are allowed to enter. But often, people of all sorts enter these compartments and make our journeys miserable. I complained to the Railway police about all these, but there was no immediate action, and I don’t think there was any after. Is it because that I have no eyesight or Muslim or both?’
Conservative Religious communities believe in the infallibility of their religious texts. This blind belief makes them think and process everything around them in the context of their religion. The danger in such a belief system lies in the fact that often these people tend to be stubborn and violently argue against any rational outlook on matters that their religion is wrong about. They are oblivious to the reality of disability that only persons with disability can fully understand.
My other friend, who has visual impairment- Antony, working in philosophy, talks about two types of people he encountered. One hurts people with disabilities unknowingly, and the other hurts them without bothering about how much it hurts people with disabilities. The first group’s attitude and perception often change with time as they learn from their interactions with persons with disabilities. Their behavior towards disability was due to ignorance.
The second group’s case is different.
‘The second group’s attitude seems to convey their haughtiness. Their inability to understand is due to their perception that they are already all-knowing. Often these people are at the top of societal hierarchy’, says Antony.
The current scenario
In the last 20 years, there have been significant strides in disability studies that have challenged how the world perceives disabled individuals. This change is spearheaded by the level of education that the present scientific or rational society provides them.
In statistics, a sample that does not rightly represent a population leads to bias. A study whose sample is not representative of the population cannot be taken to face value. Such a study lacks the scientific rigor to prove the characteristics of the population. What religions and historical reports on persons with disabilities have established suffers from bias to the core. It is high time that these beliefs and data be criticized. A serious dismantling of the prevalent thought system about disability is required, and we should make our friends with disabilities lead us in this movement.
By giving proper medical treatment and ensuring access and training, persons with disabilities can perform at a higher potential than non-disabled individuals.
‘I lost my eyesight when I was 11’, said Afzal, ‘The reason was an operation gone wrong. My parents could have gone to the courts, but their poverty and lack of education made them powerless to respond.’
Afzal has a cheerful and charming personality. He likes to travel a lot and has traveled to almost 21 states of India.
‘It was not entirely a bad thing. I used to be an average student then, but after I overcame the trauma of eyesight loss, I noticed that my concentration levels have increased.’
Afzal has received numerous scholarships, and scholarships fund his entire education, including his current Ph.D. program. Besides his academic prowess, he was one of the players in the Kerala State Blind Cricket Team.
‘I lost it when I was eight,’ said Peter, ‘Obviously there was sorrow and shock, what do you expect? I lost my eyesight!’
Peter has a beautiful and charming character. He is more reserved than Afzal.
‘But after the initial shock, I realized that my concentration span and levels have increased. This helped me focus, and that ability to focus helped me reach where I am today.’
Peter is at present doing a Ph.D. in disability studies in one of the most prestigious universities in India.
‘I lost my eyesight gradually without me knowing it. It was painful, but people around me helped me to recover,’ Said Antony, ‘The pain knew no bounds, but once I got exposed to the services available for the persons who are blind, I started exploring.’
Antony had a mysterious aura about him. Maybe that is what led him to Philosophy. He was the most reserved of the three.
‘My concentration levels increased, and it helped me a lot. Then and there, people hurt me with their behavior, but I tend to take it philosophically. I try to rectify their perception about me or disability in general when I respond to them.’
In India, due to the efforts of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, there’s a system called the Reservations. The Persons with Disabilities (PWD) are given special provisions in education and jobs to make it a level playing field. He introduced the concept of equity into equality in India for the empowerment of the downtrodden.
According to him,
‘My ideal would be a society based on liberty, equality and fraternity.’
Conclusion
People with disabilities have long been marginalized through the pages of history. From ancient times to the middle ages to modern times, people with disabilities have continued to struggle due to their voices being stolen by the non-disabled majority. Allyship is vital for the rise of the people with disabilities to take back their voice and break free of the shackles of ableism. As much as persons with disabilities need us, we need their experiences and skills to take feminist, LGBTQIA+, and other movements of the oppressed to the next level.
A rational outlook of humanity is significant to fight for our liberty against the usurpers that chain us with religion, conservatism, and irrationality. We, the oppressed, should interact with each other and treat each other as equals because we are all humans. The simple aspect of interaction and intermingling is way more crucial than we think for our fraternity. Allyship is indispensable for the oppressed of every kind, and the unity among us depends on how much we learn from our interactions with each other.
Reference
- Albrecht, Gary L., Katherine D. Seelman, and Michael Bury, eds. “Handbook of disability studies.” (2001).
Footnotes:
- These are the names of the people I interacted with for completing this article on Disability. All three are visually impaired. We did our Bachelor’s degree together and are good friends.
