There are lots of barriers that can make it difficult for disabled young people to feel disability pride. We'll explore a few of them here.
Microaggressions
Microaggressions are insensitive statements, questions or assumptions towards people of a marginalised group. In this case, we'll focus on microaggressions towards people with disability.
Using offensive language or refusing to use the word disability can be a kind of microaggression.
The following terms are not acceptable
-
Special needs
-
Differently abled
-
R*tard
-
Wheelchair bound
-
Suffering from disability
To give context to some of these examples, language can disempower us by implying that we are dependent or incapable. "Wheelchair bound" suggests being trapped or limited by a wheelchair, whereas "wheelchair user" positions the person as having agency and control.
Microaggressions can happen at every stage of the employment process. They can have negative impacts on an employee's mental health and productivity, especially as they are not experienced in isolation but as part of a long pattern of interactions.
When employees experience microaggressions, speaking up about these can be challenging and can impact communication between team members in an organisation.
Misconceptions or bias
In the video below, disabled young people discuss and challenge some of the potential biases or misconceptions that employers have around disability.
Misconceptions or misunderstandings can impact people with disability at every stage of the employment process, including recruitment. For example, when a person is not considered for a job due to a gap in their resumé. Gaps in employment history can occur for a variety of reasons for disabled people and these gaps have no bearing on our competence as employees.
A further example is when position descriptions state that an employee must have a driver's license or must be able to lift objects of a certain weight, even though such tasks are not directly related to the job being advertised.
Lack of accessibility considerations
If a workplace is not accessible or an organisation does not seem to have made any effort to learn about accessibility, it sends the message that people with disability are not welcome.
In the video below, disabled young people talk about some of the elements of an accessible workplace.
These barriers to disability pride can appear in all aspects of life even – sometimes especially – the workplace.
But encouraging disability pride in a workplace is extremely valuable. In the next section, we'll learn about why.