Ableism at its simplest definition is the oppression of people with disabilities. The Center for Disability Rights defines it as, “a set of beliefs or practices that devalue and discriminate against people with physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities and often rests on the assumption that disabled people need to be ‘fixed’ in one form or the other”. This is a form of our culture that is so ingrained in everyday lives that most people do not even realize that they are excluding people who are not seen as “normal” by the general public. The Center for Disability Rights points out that ableism is usually executed by nondisabled people with good intentions and one of our biggest hinderances of viewing people who are different from our everyday expectations is that we view them as if we are doctors and that their disability needs to be fixed. An incredibly profound statement made by Leah Smith is, “The best way to de-root ableism in our everyday lives, is to ...
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