We received this submission from a comrade and felt it necessary to share their account of ableism and disablism in the left political movement. Rahui offers examples of the violence disabled people experience at the hands of the state as well as personal anecdotal instances of violence from within the movement.
Written By Rahui Heathman
Inclusivity is something any organization will tell you they prioritize. There’s no tolerance for misogyny, ableism, racism or any other -ism and if you’re white and able bodied that will seem true to you. If you’re marginalized, though, you will know full well that the -isms permeate just about every organization that calls themselves progressive so deeply and insidiously that it’s nearly impossible to address without being seen as a wrecker or trouble maker. To break the silence on abelsim in our movements, I’d like to talk about ableism and how it presents itself in political organizing.
There are the obvious ways, a lack of ramps for people in wheelchairs. Books that don’t have electronic versions so people who use screen readers don’t have access. Ableist language that is passed off as accidental- or worse just used casually and without thought to the harm it causes. But ableism in political organizing runs much deeper than that. I have provided here three examples that highlight some of the ways that ableism has it’s claws dug into progressive movements and organizations.
In 2015, same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States of Amerikkka. It has been seen as a win for marriage equality- now we have marriage equality for everyone! Except in realty, large swaths of the population are still denied the right to marry. Disabled people in this country who are on Social Security Income can’t get married- unless they want to lose the meager benefits the government allotts them. SSI is a small financial benefit offered to those who are disabled, often paired with Medi-Care, and quite often they are all a disabled person has to live on.
How does SSI work? First, a person has to go through a rigorous and frankly humiliating process to prove that they are too disabled to work. Often this involves multiple denials, appeals, extra doctor’s visits and mountains of paperwork. The process takes anywhere from a few months to two years. Once someone is on SSI, they may very well be on SSI forever. SSI was a hard fought social welfare program and only those who are ruled unable to work traditional 9-5 jobs get approved. This means that those who are approved must plan their entire lives around SSI, including whether or not they marry. SSI has very strict regulations about how much a person receiving benefits may have. $2,000 maximum in assets. Between their house, car, and bank accounts their possessions can only add up to $2,000. On top of those limits, if a disabled person finds a gig or job they risk losing their benefits even if that job or gig only supplements their income slightly and isn’t enough to live off of alone.
If a disabled person chooses to get married their partner’s assets get “deemed” to the disabled person which means that whatever assets the spouse has counts against the disabled person. Depending how much the spouse makes, this could mean the disabled person gets less in SSI or even loses benefits entirely. Unless the spouse is also on SSI- in which case there is a slight marriage penalty that restricts their assets to $3,000 combined instead of $2,000 each. This is the best case scenario for a disabled person who gets married. The fact that progressive movements have not only allowed this to happen, but allow it to continue is pure ableism and a way that they have failed the disabled community. Where are the marches? The rallies? The energy that was brought for cisgender gays to get married? When it was Neil Patrick Harris and Ellen who wanted to get married there was a nationwide movement but disabled people are being denied the right to marry right now and there are few progressives speaking about this issue or fighting for change.
Being a physically disabled and mentally ill person I have a lot of experience being infantilized. That’s part of the hand I’ve been dealt and I deal with it fairly well in most cases. At one time I found a political Party organization that I felt treated me as a real member. They treated me like a full adult with real responsibilities and I felt seen and appreciated. I did my best to do as much work as possible to prove that I was just as useful as the abled members in my branch of the organization. I did outreach, made signs and banners, ran forums, handled the social media, and brought in new members. I was a powerhouse when given the basic respect I required and could do anything I put my mind to. Except, of course, hide my symptoms. I won’t say that doing so much work is what made me suicidal because I truly felt like I was thriving when I was doing that much work. No, I was suicidal because that’s just part of my disability. Sometimes suicidal ideation worms it’s way into my head and that’s it, I have to deal with it. Up until this point I had been an exemplary party member and the best comrade I could be. But my symptoms came out and I tried to kill myself.
Thankfully and obviously, I failed. I was hospitalized against my will and for the duration of my stay in the hospital I thought all was well. Party members called and visited, even bringing me sweets and warm socks to make my stay in the cold hospital just a little more comfortable. I had no reason to believe that anything was amiss but when I finished my hospital stay and tried to return to party work I was slapped in the face by the absolute hellish ableism that I hadn’t seen coming.
Suddenly it was as though I wasn’t capable of doing anything. Coalition meetings I had been part of were reassigned to other members, my candidates were taken from me and given to others for mentorship and I wasn’t given any new tasks to complete. My first meeting back made my head spin, I saw none of it coming. But it got worse. After that first meeting I was physically cornered by two senior branch members and told that I was no longer a full member, but because of my hospital stay I was being demoted back to a candidate, I had to start all over. And it was explicitly stated that it was because of my mental health.
This happened at a time when I was planning a big cross-country move so I had hope that being in a new branch in a new city they would see that this was wrong, that nobody should be punished for being mentally ill. I had hope that I could go back to being the powerhouse I’d started off as. But that wasn’t the case. Moving branches just solidified for me that ableism was deeply rooted in this organization I called a political home. I was given passive apologies and “It’s for the best” and not a single good reason for me to be treated like I was incapable while my arguments went ignored. I was tainted. This new branch with new people chose to believe and uphold the decision of my home branch without a single bit of input from me.
Had I asked for accommodations or help, this would have almost been something close to the right reaction. If I had felt like I needed help lightening my load, the organizational response would have been welcomed. But here’s the thing- I didn’t ask for any of that. And that is what marks this as ableism instead of help. I am a whole adult with the ability to set my own pace and choose my own workload. I did not need this group of people to collectively choose for me- that is infantilizing and harmful. My autonomy was taken from me without my consent and that is a failure of not only the organization but of the political organizing culture that exists and allows these things to happen unchecked. To this day, more than two years later, I have not received a single apology or an admission of wrongdoing by either the Party or the individuals in it who made this decision, or the individuals who upheld the decision.
In towns and cities of all sizes, anywhere there are organizations working for liberation there will be rallies, marches, protests and a number of other actions. These movements are often led by the most marginalized of people and this includes those with disabilities. What these actions will often exclude is the needs of those who are disabled. As an ambulatory wheelchair user, I find that marches are what I dread the most. Being an ambulatory wheelchair user means that I can walk, and often do, but on some days my pain is so bad that I require the use of my wheelchair to get around. That makes marches difficult for me. Many assume that because I can sometimes walk I can keep up with the masses physically.
What usually ends up happening at an action is that myself and my partner- a person who is also disabled- end up trailing far after the crowd of marchers. This is not only exclusionary but dangerous. Imagine watching your comrades around you, starting off all in the same place with chants and banners and messages of liberation and fairness all around and then slowly but surely they get further and further, until finally all that’s left is you and a handful of others tailing along at the end. This leaves those who can’t keep up to the vultures. Counter protestors and police can easily surround those left behind without the safety of numbers that the rest of a march has as protection.
It also works to dissolve faith disabled people have in the groups that claim to care for their liberation. If they cared for us wouldn’t they keep the march at a slower pace so we can keep up? Would we not be a priority? Leaving behind the disabled, elderly, children, and all others who can’t keep up alienates them from movements and each of these groups is vitally important. There will be no liberation for any of us until there is liberation for all of us.
I tell these stories not to center myself or my friends as people who have been wronged by ableism but to show that disabled people are being largely forgotten and even actively harmed in our so called progressive movements. Anti-ableism is work, just like the rest of the political work we need to do. Just like the misogyny and racism, we need to fight the ableism that makes organizing inaccessible for so many.
What can be done? A lot. It is work, but it is work worth doing. There are real material ways that we can make organizing more accessible. Set the pace of marches based on the slowest attendees, make the route accessible with as few hills as possible, commit to meeting spaces that are wheelchair accessible, add captions on zoom, have ASL interpreters, provide electronic versions of readings and most importantly do not make decisions for disabled people, but with us. That includes fighting the fights that are important to the disabled community. Don’t assume that because someone is disabled they don’t fit in your organization or movement, don’t leave us behind.
We are your comrades too.
