Add ableism to the list of “isms” in regard to perspectives on disabilities.
In a two-day training session, Michele McGowen and Joanne Johnson of the Disability Network of Southwest Michigan discussed the systemic, institutional, cultural discrimination and oppression of disabled people, or ableism.
“We have all of these expectations for people with disabilities to live separately or live in a different way that we don’t have for people without disabilities,” Johnson said. “Or we expect less from people with disabilities and so we offer them less opportunities to show what they can do.”