Ableism

Justice must first be defined, in terms of legally and socially. It applies to every area of our lives and affects how successful society is. Justice means something different to everyone on a more personal level, but as a whole, it must mean something to us all very specifically. I began to question what justice truly means. “The Oxford English Dictionary defines the ‘just’ person as one who typically ‘does what is morally right’ and is disposed to ‘giving everyone his or her due,’ offering the…

Since its publication in 1985, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has been used as political inspiration for the feminist movement. After the 2016 election, which ushered in Republican majorities in the House and Senate as well as the election of Republican Donald Trump to the presidency, The Handmaid’s Tale has seen an increase in sales and the character of the Handmaid has resurfaced as an image of feminist resistance to anti-choice legislation. Despite the fact that this image is highly…

unforgiving and after deeper investigation, a side that has now become their reality. Although stories like Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (which describes the character's transition and experiences at Yale), Brownies (brownie troop of girls learn about ableism…

Society, particularly Millennials, faces conflict when presented with a differing opinion that may not correspond with their worldview. On campuses across the map, we find “safe zones” in which college students do not have to absorb anything but their own agenda of absolutely necessary diversity, to the point in which they limit the intake of white men in a group in order to promote diversity, conservative values kept at the tides of a dorm, and defined, in a malleable manner, “hate speech”, to…

individual support in their learning needs and in who they are. Currently, we reach 90% of the students, but it is our goal to reach all of them through MTSS. The students who fall into this category do not follow any minority trends other than perhaps “ableism” and other such…

of wealth inequality and misogynistic violence, or before descriptions of torture in certain class discussions. Trigger warnings in particular have emerged to protect the wellbeing of students who have been negatively affected by racism, sexism, ableism, cissexism or classism, mainly liberal campuses, and have generated significant opposition from students and professors alike. ( Medina, Jennifer. “Warning: The Literary Canon Could Make Students Squirm” New York Times 18 May 2014) Together, the…

conversation in wheelchair rugby players is akin to that of able-bodied athletes. They use this to argue that the on-court practice of the disabled body in quad rugby, as well as the off-court conversation, contribute to the hegemonic discourse of ableism and reinforce the standard form of heteronormative…

“Queer Bodies: Sexualities, Genders, & Fatness in Physical Education” is a research based novel by Heather Sykes. Sykes is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and specializes in educational studies and physical education (Sykes, 2011). Heather Sykes has been published in a variety of academic journals for her research in critically analyzing issues of gender, sexuality and fatness in physical education as well as sports sociology. Her book, “Queer Bodies: Sexualities, Genders, &…

I view myself as being independent and very capable. I know that gender stereotypes can influence how a woman specifically views herself in terms of being successful in what is deemed as masculine roles or leadership positions (Davis et al, 2005). Therefore, I am even more thankful to my family for not pushing those implicit rules into me but for allowing me to grow into a strong person. I have had to fix my worldview because I realized that women or girls in developing countries are not always…

I first became familiar with the relationship between feminism and disability when I was assigned reading from the anthology Feminist Disability Studies. With essays from writers such as Rosemarie Garland-Thomson and Alison Kafer, it is an incredibly powerful collection, demonstrating how the interests of feminist theory and disability studies overlap. And yet, despite the efforts of these scholars and disabled feminists in academia and in activist groups, disability does not seem to be on the…