Ableism

The New York Times just reported it.

Ableism, homophobia.

I guess Democrats don't care about that anymore.

I mean, listen,

I think that doubt and that overarching disbelief comes both from the trauma associated with being late diagnosed and also from having a hard time accepting that this is truth.

We talk about internalized ableism.

Ableism is the belief that people should be able to do things, everybody should be able to do things in the same way.

When you internalize ableism, you are judging yourself based on a standard that as someone who has ADHD or autism is a standard that you likely can't uphold.

This becomes the reason to doubt the diagnosis because you have been doubting yourself because you've been gaslighting yourself about a hundred little things probably every day of your life.

Okay, why not? This is the 21st century, dude.

It's like Ableist? Ableist?

They've got a point.

No one wants to do, ooh, scary mentally ill people these days.

So yeah.

I'm looking forward to, as you will have seen, the title of the episode is, Is Halloween the Most Ableist Holiday? And I think nobody's talking about this.

It's time for us to talk about this.

But before we get into the Halloween stuff, we have a few exciting things to talk about.

Is this how everybody else thinks? But the fear of asking that question, because what if they say no, and how might that change how they see me? How might it change if people will listen to what I think God is telling me to say? I believe these social conditions with which we live in create the framework for disability, and that our community's collective I might even say ableist attitudes we have about disabled and aging bodies.

Ableism.

Ableism is a system that values people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, of intelligence, excellence, and productivity.

And there are many, many of us who, those of us who are disabled, whose disability perhaps is visible in those of us who have invisible disabilities, who are consistently trying to perform normalcy, intelligence, excellence, and productivity in ways that allow us to feel accepted, of putting ourselves in positions where We know what someone expects us to do or say.

We know what it means to perform our own humanness or to pass.

Sexism is wrong.

Ableism is wrong.

Transphobia is wrong.

Homophobia.

It's great to have you here.

And you've published this new book called Breaking Not Broken, Ableism and the Church After Constantine, which we'll spend a little time just teasing out for listeners.

But first of all, can you just explain to us what you're doing in New York? It's a fantastic title.

Just tell

Oh, yes.

Homophobia.

Ableism.

This is the fascinating thing I have found.

For me, it's really become paramount that this is a trajectory of scholarships that is explored further and given space to be heard and discovered, and just sharing more of the realities that exist for Indigenous peoples who are routinely confronted by the historical and ongoing harms of ableism and colonialism.

I see these two forces as very pervasive and systemic, and they work alongside one another and have been detrimental in terms of the Indigenous experience and how particular bodies and minds are treated and included in Canada at large.

Ableism is really about an attitude, and it's an attitude that is devaluing certain bodies and certain minds by equating able-bodiedness to a particular pretense and understanding of normity.

And this has really had profound impacts for peoples living with disability, but also for Indigenous peoples in North America, because ableism has been used as a tool of imperialism.

Certain peoples with certain worldviews and certain systems of living and learning have been marginalized and harmed by colonial powers and through a colonial mission that has consistently and constantly mistreated Indigenous peoples.