This is a variation of a quiz that was developed by Amanda Morris and Chris Alcantara for The Washington Post. This version is designed for students.
Results
Congratulations!
You are ableist!
#1. You are headed to class and are about to enter your building. A student in a wheelchair is approaching the entrance just ahead of you. What do you do?
1. Ask them if they would like help. ◄ This is the correct response. It’s best not to assume that a disabled person needs help unless you are aware of an immediate barrier or unmet need. Is there a working push button by the door? If so, the person probably doesn’t need your help.
2. Ignore them. ◄ Incorrect. The erasure and invisibilization of disabled people are rooted in ableism, and stem from both our discomfort around disability as well as the legacies of eugenic ideology in the United States, which has conditioned many people to believe that disabled people should be hidden from mainstream society.
3. Dash ahead and open the door for them. ◄ Incorrect. If you saw someone on campus walking with a large pile of books in their hands, would you just take some of the books off their hands without asking? It’s ok to ask if someone needs help, but don’t assume!
#2. In the campus newspaper, you come across a story about a Blind student who has been accepted to Harvard Law School. How do you react?
1. You share the story on social media, because it makes you feel good about humanity. ◄ Incorrect. Getting into Harvard is an achievement, of course, but would you feel differently about this story if the person was nondisabled? Disabled people shouldn’t be treated as remarkable just because they can do the same things that nondisabled people can do. If anything, such reactions reveal the pervasive ableism and barriers that we accept as part of society that make it more difficult for disabled people to experience the same opportunities as nondisabled people.
2. You are inspired to do better in your own life, or you feel bad about yourself. If a Blind person can go to Harvard, then what’s your excuse for not trying harder! ◄ Incorrect. “Inspiration porn” is pervasive in mainstream media. It celebrates disabled people for doing the ordinary things that nondisabled people do every day. There is an insidious aspect to inspiration porn, in that it encourages us to believe that with just a little more effort, disabled people can overcome all barriers on their own. It takes the responsibility off society to make the built environment more accessible and dumps that all on the individual. And by celebrating those disabled people who can, it implicitly criticizes disabled people who struggle or who cannot succeed without accommodations.
3. You feel good for your fellow student, and then go about the rest of your day. ◄ This is the correct response. By NOT viewing these stories as inspirational fodder, we get closer to a world in which we accept that disabled people are essential members of our communities.
#3. You meet someone on campus who is interesting, kind, and appealing. You have considered asking them on a date, but then you learn that they were recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital. What is your next step?
1. Be honest about your discomfort with mental illness. Don’t ask them out on a date. ◄ Incorrect. Letting someone’s diagnosis override all their other qualities is ableist and dehumanizing.
2. Ask them on a date. ◄ This is the correct response. However, if you feel somehow obligated or motivated to date someone out of charity, then you are actually causing harm, because you are making the person an object of your moral rehabilitation, not to mention that you are assuming that the disabled person wants or needs your pity.
3. Ghost the person. You have seen Joker and are worried about your safety. ◄ Incorrect. It’s normal to feel uncertain about things we haven’t experienced, but assuming the worst about a person deprives a chance to truly know them, and is a type of nonphysical barrier we place around all disabled people. People should neither be forever defined by the worst moments in their lives, nor by their diagnoses.
#4. Your class is assigned to do a presentation. You can work individually or in groups. It seems everyone in the class has joined a group, and you and another top student in the class are working together, but it would help to distribute the work by bringing in a third person. The only person who still doesn’t have any partners is nonspeaking. What is your choice?
1. Ask the person to join the group, and ask if they need any accommodations. ◄ This is the correct choice. The person may have a text-to-speech device or other accommodations that will allow them to participate fully and contribute equally. It’s always a good idea to ask if someone needs accommodations rather than either assuming that their needs are met or assuming that they will need your help. It’s also possible that the person wants to work independently, but most people will appreciate being asked.
2. Decide to do the project with just you and your current partner. ◄ Incorrect. Most built environments have been designed to meet nondisabled people’s needs while treating disabled people’s needs as an afterthought. Equity is about giving each person the supports they need to participate fully. It is ableist to assume that a disabled person cannot contribute without first asking what barriers may exist that prevent a person’s participation.
3. Ask the professor for advice. ◄ Incorrect. It is ableist to assume that a disabled person needs someone to communicate on their behalf or that a nondisabled person is the best person to communicate a disabled person’s needs. Being an ally to disabled people means acknowledging that disabled people are the experts on themselves.
