“Just over 6.8 million community-resident Americans use assistive devices to help them with mobility.
This group comprises 1.7 million wheelchair or scooter riders and 6.1 million users of other mobility devices,
such as canes, crutches, and walkers.” (Disability Statistics Center).
While the disability community is diverse, ”the disabled guy” stereotype generally involves being in a wheelchair. It’s visual storytelling shorthand.
There are more specific disability stereotypes, such as being visually impaired giving you a 6th sense, and autism accompanied by savant syndrome.
The wheelchair-bound stereotype is the most prevalent in my life because my form of cerebral palsy has always included mobility aids.
I had the most exposure to the disability community at camp every summer.
Even through those experiences of making friends and seeing what they could do, I still saw it as a failure when I first sat in a wheelchair.
Just because you know a disabled person, an Asian person, etc. it doesn’t mean you can’t be ableist or racist.
Accepting an individual is different than being aware of how stereotypes might affect your behavior. People don’t like to acknowledge our failures.
As a child, I was at least as “curious” about other disabilities as my able-bodied peers. Everyone learns from the media. I had the same questions about specific disabilities, such as visual impairments or hard-of-hearing people, that others without disabilities have.
However, that doesn’t make it right for me to ask invasive questions of other disabled people.
Internalizing ableism is complex. In the media, a hierarchy of identities is reinforced, and I am set up to internalize where society “fits me in”, among the disabled.
“Disability hierarchy is not about disability type alone, but rather a complex, intersectional differential valuation of disabled people regarding who can and cannot or should and should not be accommodated and integrated into a society based on various factors.” (Schalk, 408)
I can only speak from my experience. What I know about disability stereotypes and
what questions annoy me the most do not necessarily transfer to other people.
Sources
Schalk, S. (2020). Wounded Warriors of the Future Disability Hierarchy in Avatar and Source Code. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 14(4), 403-420.http://samischalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Schalk_Wounded-Warriors-of-the-Future_JLCDS-2020.pdf
The University of California-Disability Statistic Center. (2022, October 2). Mobility Device Statistics: United States. Disabled-World.com. Retrieved December 12, 2022, from https://www.disabled-world.com/disability/statistics/mobility-stats.php