Posts tagged ‘stigma’
RCAD 17, 18: Discrimination, Stigma, Preferential Treatment
Redefine Disability Awareness Challenge by Rose Fischer
My non-linear brain prefers to answer these in a random “what appeals to me today” order, some repetition may ensue.
17) Have you experienced discrimination because of disabilities? Discrimination comes in many forms, from refusal to employ or accommodate a person with a disability to treating that person with disrespect because of it
Possibly, but it’s hard to tell for sure (let alone legally prove!) since my disabilities are hidden/invisible. I do tend to strategically reveal them to employers *after* they have hired me, (often after scoping things out, and possibly allying with a co-worker who has a learning disability, or a kid with one) but before some social, emotional or sensory issues pop up that might endanger my job if I don’t develop a strategy to cope with them. I often figure out these strategies and coping mechanisms on my own, without consulting with anyone, but my ability to do so may depend on the structure and expectations of the job, and how flexible and open-minded the supervisor and co-workers are willing to be. I’ve felt rather annoyed with the conventional disability services complex because the professional helpers seem to have this naive faith that the ADA- Americans with Disabilities Act will always magically protect you from discrimination, and you should just go ahead and reveal your disabilities. I think this is due to shortcomings and assumptions from how they are trained, and professionals who actually are familiar with Asperger’s and ADHD are far more helpful. With more generic disability professionals, I end up spending as much- or more time educating them about my disabilities than actually getting relevant help and suggestions from them.
18) Have you experienced preferential treatment because of disabilities? —By preferential treatment, I mean situations where you were treated better or differently from your peers even though there was no valid reason.
I’ve gotten the condescending kindergarten teacher voice from people- and being treated as if I were “slow” after people found out about my label(s) or picked up that I was a little “different” or “special”. I wouldn’t consider any of that preferential! Honestly, if there were more companies that practiced active recruiting of people with disabilities- and didn’t limit that definition to only certain conditions (as the federal government does) I think that would be fantastic. I know that doesn’t fit with the mainstream disability rights movement’s “we want to blend in and be treated like everyone else” agenda and raises the oh-so-scary specter of affirmative action that makes middle class white people run away screaming, but I don’t really care. Their strategies haven’t been working very well, its time we tried something else.
30 Days of Mental Illness Challenge by Marcy
14: Have you ever experienced stigma?
Yes- mostly from people making cluelessly insensitive comments in front of me about autism and mental illness, often while not realizing I have either such experience. Sometimes I challenge them while staying “in the closet”, sometimes I come out if it feels safe and appropriate to do so. Often it’s a “Eeeww, I don’t want to be associated with Those Crazy People!”. Maybe this relates more to the pseudo-preferential treatment discussed above, but I’ve especially noticed this stigma when mentioning my past seizures/epilepsy. Sometimes with mere mortals, sometimes with doctors and other Experts ™ who should “know better”. I’ve gotten “back away slowly before she explodes!” style reactions, being treated like I’m a porcelain doll, need to be told what I’m capable of doing and how to take care of myself and “Oh, you poor dear, there but for the grace of God/the Universe go I” and other crap. This is very similar to a lot of the complaints I’ve heard my friends with more visually apparent physical disabilities talk about how they’ve been treated, and I’ve also witnessed some of that nonsense myself while around folks with physical disabilities.
I’ll Take Liberal Christians/Jews over Conservative Pagans
One aspect of the “We’re all one Big Happy Pagan Umbrella Community” mentality is that somehow, I’m supposed to feel like I have more in common with conservative-minded Pagans/Heathens/polytheists than with people who share my values but follow other religions. Here and there I’ve heard of Pagans running for office, and everyone gets all excited. But oh, wait they share none of my values. There was a Pagan in the Tea Party movement who was interviewed a while back. *Shudder* So then why should I support them? I’m sure the fact that they have minority religious views will all get swept under the rug when its convenient anyway. Pagans of all socio-political stripes have to keep their religion quiet sometimes, but I notice the people who push back the most about promoting “coming out of the broom closet” often make a big deal about how its private, the personal is most certainly not political, and ewww I don’t want to be publicly associated with all those deviant hippie polyamorous Ren-fest dorks! They remind me so much of Andrew Sullivan and other gay conservatives. Be quiet, be discreet, be personal. Don’t scare the straights!
I do try to make friends with or at least be friendly and civil with people whose politics differ from mine. But it seems increasingly difficult as I can’t quite squelch the feeling some people give me that, while they act all nice and polite, it’s nothing personal but yeah, people like me deserve “what we get”, we’re not working hard enough, or acting normal enough, and asking for more is just class warfare, or a way of inconveniencing business owners/employers by demanding “unreasonable” accommodations. Now I appear white, cisgendered and heterosexual and at least culturally middle class, so they can show me all their true colors while talking about Those Other Scary Poor Brown Queer People/Crazy Feminists/Communists etc.
So yeah serve the gods of capitalism, Ronald Reagan, the Patron Saint of trickle-down economics, the Goddess Ayn Rand and so forth and so on. But when it comes to pick teams, I’m joining up with the people of Sojourners and Tikkun and such. Sadly liberal Christianity and Judaism are in decline- at least institutionally. I’m concerned that non-affiliated liberals may be harder to organize. Pagans sure as hell are!
Smoking as a Class Issue
Among the conversations I got into with my family while on vacation was some of my relatives expressing befuddlement as they traveled across Montana and Wyoming that OMG, There are Still All These People who smoke? How strange, I mean, *I don’t know anyone who smokes* What decade is this anyway? sorta comments. At some point I pointed out that these days, smoking is something of a class difference. It used to be that smoking was pretty evenly common among every class of people. The smoking rate has gone way down with rising awareness of health risks, social pressure and anti-smoking laws. But it tends to still be higher among working-class and poor people, at least in the U.S. This may seem counter-intuitive considering how expensive smokes can be, but consider this: nicotine is a stimulant- many of these folks are on their feet all day, and smoking gives them a little extra energy. Smoking can relieve stress, and many of them are very over-stressed. Yes middle class people are also often very stressed, but have more options for stress-relieving techniques. They also are more likely to be able to access smoke-quitting programs, alternatives like e-cigs (which have a high upfront cost) therapy etc. Many people who are recovering from alcoholism, addiction or mental illness smoke as a stress reliever. Once again low income= less access to recovery programs/therapy etc. A smoke, a drink or a favorite food that might be seen as comparatively bad uses of money and unhealthy choices are simple pleasures low-income people can access after a hard day (or night). I suspect that if my one uncle who lives on an Indian reservation was present, he probably would’ve backed up some of my reasons. Some of them seem to be acknowledged, but mostly my view was overpowered by White Middle-Class Liberals Know Best self-righteousness.
Now I’m not saying smoking is this great habit that we should all take up. I’m saying that think before you swoop down and condemn “Those People” for being foolish, short-sighted, selfish or whatever for smoking. I was reminded of all this while reading Nornoriel’s post in which he points out that as a coping/stress release technique smoking a couple times a week is not as bad as many people claim. “Vice” taxes on tobacco and liquor don’t really work, and essentially function as regressive taxes that have more of an impact on poor people. Which I suspect, is exactly what they’re intended to do. I wonder what would happen if someone were to propose a special tax on coffee. Everyone would pitch a fit. That’s the “acceptable” vice that people of all classes partake in. Both sleep-deprived office workers and truck drivers alike are dependent on caffeine. It’s a drug that makes you a good productive capitalist worker. Unlike say, marijuana…
Disability Blog Projects
Blog Against Disablism Day- this was for May 1st– this is nicely organized by topic- like Education, Employment, Language issues etc.
Words I Wheel By: June Disability News/Blog Round-up 4
Another great collection of posts/news articles
Lessons from My Failed Project as an Able-Bodied Ally This post caught my eye- and I tried commented on it but it wouldn’t let me! It’s a reflection from a teacher of developmentally disabled students in a young adult transition program. I found I could relate to a lot both as an autistic person who’s continued on better understanding and helping other folks with autism and other disabilities, and as a person who experiences other types of privilege- it reminds me a lot of my journey attempting to be a white anti-racist ally.
My fellow blogger Rose is a novelist and fan-fiction writer, and she’s been working on a collaborative project called “Redefining Disability” which promotes better representation of people with disabilities in the media. I highly recommend that series- I don’t know why, but for some reason all too often when “diversity” is discussed, disability is left out. Anyway, she is now asking people to discuss their own experiences with disability (including people who have friends/family with disabilities) in the Redefining Disability Awareness Challenge.
This was also inspired by 30 Days of Mental Illness Awareness Challenge. Not sure if I should be signing up for more blog challenges!
I have caught up with the Pagan Blog Project, though I still need to go back and fill in a few letters.
Via that blog, I found the Mental Health Writer’s Guild– a blogging community of people whose blogs discuss mental health issues. By writing openly about our experiences with mental illness and disability, we bring out of the closet, out of the stigma and into the light. This brings hope to people who feel ashamed of the challenges they face. It is up to each individual how much they wish to reveal about themselves.
Also found- Blog For Mental Health 2014
Deviance
One of the most important concepts in sociology in relation to modern Paganism(s) is that of social deviance. There’s a lot of argument over what “pagan” means but one commonality is that we are all deviant. Deviance means not following social norms– rules- whether official or unwritten. That’s one reason some people do not like the word pagan, is because of its emphasis on deviance – difference from the Judeo/Christian/Islamic dominant paradigm. Efforts to distance paganism from particular kinds of deviance are a defensive attempt to manage the stigma of being a member of a non-standard and sometimes misunderstood religion. Guess what- it doesn’t work. We will never be respectable or normal enough for some people. We can learn a lot from the gay rights movement about this. The feminist movement tried to distance itself from lesbians (calling them the “lavender menace”) The Mattachine Society, an early gay rights group was founded by Harry Hay, a Communist. Later gay rights activists tried to distance themselves from communism. The Stonewall Riots were led by drag queens/kings, transgender and bisexual folk, only to later be swept under the rug and marginalized by gays and lesbian leaders of the movement.
Now, am I saying let’s be tolerant of all types of deviance? No. But when we don’t really have a cohesive community, that leaves us vulnerable to “anything goes”. The solution is, as individuals we need to clarify our values and principles, and then find others who share those principles. I share some of my values with polytheists, with atheists, with Christians. Some people who have otherwise similar beliefs and practices to me, have values that conflict with my own. Those are the sort of people I’m not interested in being in community with. At minimum, I live and let live, at best I try to engage in open dialogue and try to get them to come to a compromise or change their views. If this fails, and they are actively furthering negative values/agendas, I oppose them.
Are we that Clueless about Disability?
So is it true that Pagan communities are less disability-friendly than other religious communities? I think that’s a really hard question to answer, especially considering how you can debate what “pagan” or “disability” even means. An Asatruar might insist they are not Pagan, a Deaf person may insist they are not disabled, regardless of how others may view them.
Progressive/liberal movements also often don’t “get” disability, which likewise influences progressive-oriented Pagan and alternative spiritual groups. It’s a very mixed bag in everything from feminism, racial and economic justice groups, GLBT groups etc. One thing I can say across the board, whether dealing with Pagan groups or lefty activist groups, is it depends on the individuals in the group, and what they are aware of and advocating for. The disabilities that they have, or have encountered in their personal lives are key. Then disability groups themselves vary widely in what other “isms” and minority concerns they include, and what disability issues they “get” or don’t. The disability rights and Deaf movements in the U.S. started on college campuses, among relatively privileged activists, the movements still reflect those origins, along with mostly white middle/upper-class parents, family members and professionals.
That said, I’ll share some of my own experiences and observations- both good and bad about attitudes toward disability I’ve encountered among Pagans. A big positive for myself as an autistic person, is that Pagan communities tend to very accepting of eccentric behavior. There may be debates about exactly what kinds, or how far such behavior, dress and appearance should go, but in general, having quirky mannerisms is more tolerated. I pretty much bring up autism as it comes up and seems relevant, but otherwise I seem to get along pretty well with Pagans without mentioning a label. When it does come up, I find people are usually pretty accepting- often people will feel as if they understand me better, and they often mention autistic traits they notice in others, (or themselves) or family members/friends who have been diagnosed.
Often when trying to get disability services I have more trouble getting people to understand autism as a disability, especially since I am fully verbal, live independently etc. But on the other hand, I seem to have an easier time with social acceptance- I think because people don’t usually immediately put me into a “disability box” based on use of a wheelchair or other such visible signals. That gives me the freedom to explain it when it feels comfortable, appropriate and relevant. In sociological terms, I am able to manage the “stigma” surrounding my disabled identity, whereas others with more overt disabilities get hit with more of the brutal impact of disability prejudice- the kind of crap I’ve managed to mostly avoid since high school. I have noticed, interestingly that people do seem to have a stronger, more uncomfortable reaction when I mention the epilepsy than the autism. Hence why I don’t mention it much.
No, most of the cluelessness about disability hasn’t been directed towards me, it’s been to other people. Frankly there are plenty of times when I haven’t thought about accessibility until I encountered it through the eyes of a friend.
Once I invited a friend to Imbolc ritual. The leader of the group was encouraging us to invite friends and family so they could get the chance to learn about our religion. My friend did enjoy the event, but it was on the third floor of a decrepit building and she had bad knees, so it was difficult for her to climb all the stairs. Later I brought this up to my teacher, and asked what we would do if a wheelchair user wanted to attend an event. His reply: “Oh I’m sure his or her fellow students would be happy to carry him up the stairs”. Right, because that would be so dignified. Not to mention the assumption of ability to carry the person, and the safety issues involved. Later on, after I left this group (for many reasons) the teacher bought a house, and again placed the temple on the second floor of the house. Another group I was involved with met at a metaphysical bookstore on the second floor. Someone e-mailed us that they were interested in coming, and mentioned that they used a wheelchair. I explained to them the situation, but told them I would try to move the discussion to an accessible location. But the other two people would hear none of it. Seriously. In retrospect, I should’ve e-mailed the person and said that I would be happy to meet with them somewhere accessible. If that situation arises again, that’s what I’ll do.
I am going to give props though, to the folks involved in Pagan Pride and Paganicon. They have been really awesome about trying make sure those events are accessible to people of varying abilities and to the public transit system and for that I am thankful. There are some kinds of accessibility that harder to deal with in rural settings and since many groups meet in homes those also tend to be less accessible. I think in general, though as we move toward larger more public events we will have more options for accessibility.
The Lefthander's Path 