We've all experienced it at some time, people we don't even know calling us "s*****c" or other disabled-ist names, often before attacking us physically. Other times, people pick on our disability to make like our opinions don't count because we, supposedly, don't know anything.

In this article, I intend to nuke the latter assertation. I also intend to explain why people "pick on us".

One of the main theories to explain prejudice against people with disabilities is the "fragile body syndrome", as theorised by Vic Finkelstein (also the pioneer of the social model of disability). This states that non-disabled people don't like coming across people with disabilities, because it reminds them subconsciously that they will be disabled themselves as they grow older. This would certainly go some way towards explaining why there is an increased susceptibility towards disability prejudice among sports people - look at the crap spouted by Glenn Hoddle, and the petty restrictions imposed on people with even mild disabilities at sports centres under the excuse of health and safety. It would also go towards explaining why people in some jobs which push "physical fitness", notably the armed forces, often have tendencies towards disability prejudice. However, one of the main flaws in the "fragile body syndrome" theory is that it fails to explain why prejudice against young people with disabilities is often more severe than that against older people with disabilities.

Massive prejudice is also encountered by people with disabilities with children. Often, this is hidden as the oppressor latches on to the current paedophile witch-hunt to accuse people with disabilities of being perverts, in situations where they wouldn't dare say the same thing about non-disabled people. In the past the situation was even more stark, with some countries (and individual parents in the UK) forcibly sterilising people with disabilities to stop them having children. This was allegedly done to stop any more disabled kids being born. Not only is this terrible discrimination, it is bad science - disabled people are often likely to have non-disabled offpring, and non-disabled carriers of certain genes have an enhanced chance of having disabled offspring.

Again, the reason for this prejudice may be psychological. A substantial number of people have had times in their childhood where one or more of their parents have been ill or disabled, and many in that situation have memories of the situation which were far from happy. In some cases, seeing a disabled adult with a non-disabled kid may remind them of when they were in that situation (even if the kid is simply mixing with the disabled person on a social level), and cunjure up feelings of anger and hatred. Please note, no way does this mean that everyone who's helped an ill or disabled relative as a kid, is likely to end up prejudiced against people with disabilities. (Been there, done that, please don't hold it against me!) In fact, young carers tend to be less alienated, in the Marxist sense of the word, than kids who are powerless in the face of their parents' incapacity. Either way, although we are brainwashed into blaming people with disabilities and assuming they are inflicting hardship on kids, the real enemy of young carers and people with disabilities alike is capitalism. Besides, this only accounts for a relatively small portion of the cases of prejudice against people with disabilities.

Another, possibly related to the above, attitude is that people with disabilities are incapable of looking after ourselves. This can have negative implications for us finding employment, it also leads to us having difficulty finding accommodation because some landlords take the attitude that we would leave the place in a mess. (Cheeky bastards!) The patronizing crap peddled by many charities goes some way to promoting this negative image. However, this still does not explain the prejudices we experience from so many members of the public.

The main reason for the continuing prejudice against people with disabilities is that so many people have been brainwashed into, wrongly, considering disabled people the cause of their economic or other resource-related problems.

Some think that people with disabilities get preferential treatment for jobs and other services. This is bulls**t - people with disabilities are six times more likely to be unemployed than non-disabled people. Whole swathes of employers still won't touch people with disabilities with a barge-pole, eg the Armed Forces. They're not the only ones - I have myself suffered from blatant discrimination in the past.

Plus, many people with disabilities who have got jobs are "under-employed", ie less well employed than a non-disabled person with equivalent qualifications. The pay differential does not end there - in issue 1661 of Socialist Worker, it was stated that Remploy employees (all disabled workers) at one factory got paid less than the regular, non-disabled, employees.

Nor are disabled workers immune from job losses. Remploy threatened to sack 1000 workers and shut 18 factories in August 2000 (Socialist Worker issue 1662).

However, there are still a minority of people with disabilities who do succeed and get a, above-average standard of living. This leads to another exhibition of intolerance by many non-disabled people, who get especially jealous when someone who they see (are brainwashed into seeing) as inherently inferior to them, has more than they have. The same is true of many people's attitude towards successful black people, as was detailed in the 1988 ITV World In Action documentary No Porsche For Derek B (Derek B was a successful black record producer, who kept being stopped by the cops in his Porsche, and his police harassment only ended when he down-graded to a more down-market car). When people with disabilities try to obtain anything other than the minimum needed for our survival, we are forever having to jump through hoops to obtain it, far more so than average non-disabled people. Obviously, jealousy is not only directed against people with disabilities, but oppressed minorities (including people with disabilities) suffer a far more virulent form of people's attitude problems.

People with disabilities are also seen as a drain on the welfare state; even the Labore, sorry, Labour government have launched a "review" on disability benefits which will lead to many people with disabilities experiencing a cut in benefits. This is despite the fact that a higher percentage of people with disabilities live in poverty than of the rest of the population.

The real "drain" is the fat cats, ie big company bosses who earn millions while sacking workers to boost their profits. And parasites like the Royal Family, who "earn" millions for doing Jack S**t!

Anyway, attacking people with disabilities is not the answer. Many people have disabled relatives; 25% of the population are in some way affected by disability. And many more are likely to become disabled in the future.

Increasingly so now; increased traffic levels (caused by the privatization of, and cut-backs in, public transport) have led to an alarming rise in pollution-related asthma, not to mention disabilities caused by road accidents. And, in attempts to maximize profits, many companies have cut back on health and safety - leading to a rise in disabilities caused by accidents. And the rise in attacks by Nazi groups like the BNP and National Front - which feed off prejudice against people with disabilities - will no doubt lead to more people being disabled by these attacks.

Besides, people with disabilities have contributed a lot to society and to our quality of life. Thomas Edison, who had a learning disability and was diabetic, invented both the electric light and the record player (forerunner of the CD player).
    Albert Einstein, who was dyslexic, taught us a lot about the nature of the atom and virtually invented atomic physics.
    Stephen Hawkins, who is in a wheelchair and needs a computer to talk, has devised the only theory of the origins of the universe which does not rely on the existance of God. And I bet he could teach me a thing or two about the UK solar eclipse of August 11th, 1999 ...

So, whether we have disabilities or not, we have all got a problem - Capitalism !

The way to fight against poverty and job losses, against disabled-ism, and against piss poor working and living conditions which will lead to more disability, is to fight for a fairer society. We must fight not among ourselves, but fight for an end to our exploitation by a rich minority. And for a socialist society where everyone - whether disabled or non-disabled - is equal.

The Socialist Workers Party are fighting for such a society.

Back to Red Disability political articles