“I have a disability, but I don’t suffer from it.” is a common answer by most of the disabled when they are asked about whether or not they’re suffering from their disabilities. However, in reality, is that true?
“Living with blindness isn’t always easy. I have embraced it and have had a lot of great experiences directly related to my diagnosis of blindness complication. But I still have bad days, such as recently when I was walking and hit an open filing cabinet and had a resulting concussion. But I still don’t suffer from this blindness” said one of the most persevere person in the world.
Sadly, they would feel like they suffer more because of ableism. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, ableism is: “the systemic oppression of a group of people because of what they can or can not do with their bodies or minds as the result of ignorance.” In simple terms, it’s when people’s practices around and attitudes toward people with disabilities devalue and limit people with disabilities, or they discriminate in favour of “able-bodied” people. It’s not the actual condition or disability itself that is the limiting factor, it’s society’s perception and treatment of people with disabilities.
Indonesia has a lot of disabled people. Among people aged 15 years and over, there are 12.15% of people living with disabilities (around 22.8 million people). Taking into account the level of disabilities, there are 1.87% of people with severe disabilities and 10.29% of people with mild disabilities. Not just that, but 68,06% (127.671.869) of disabled people have an active role in the workforce.
A study conducted by Jones et al. (2011) noted that the relationship between income and disability was stronger among workers with disabilities with limited workability compared to workers with disabilities without limited workability. However, the strength of such a relationship is questionable because unobservable variables might emerge after controlling for individual heterogeneity. Also, Brown & Emery (2008) found that men with mild, moderate, severe and very severe disabilities have an income 21%, 30%, 40% and 55% lower than men without disabilities. As for women, the estimated impact ranges from a 19% decrease in income for mild disabilities to a 49% decrease for very severe disabilities.
This is clearly a fraudulent act and an act of ableism. According to Jessica Naert (blind) in 2017, she received the following acts of ableism:
Even though a PowerPoint presentation is completed in order to present to the audience, the presenter won’t give me a copy of it until after the presentation. Therefore, while people who are sighted can have access to the presentation materials during the presentation, I don’t have access to them until after. Ableism.
I’ve also heard the term, and not in relation to me, “the blind leading the blind,” a lot.. Now sometimes, people do joke about it when one of my best friends (who is blind) and I are leading each other… it truly is “Blind leading the blind.” But more often than that, it’s in relation to somebody who is directionally challenged leading around somebody else who is directionally challenged and they just end up going in circles. I am pretty good about getting to where I need to go and am pretty good with directions nowadays, and I am also blind. So this phrase can be offensive. Ableism.
I can’t tell you how many times people ask my boyfriend if I want something or if I need something when I’m right there. They assume because I’m blind I can’t express my own needs or desires and they have to ask him. If you know my boyfriend, you know he is super quiet, so he usually just goes “uh…” and then looks at me to respond for myself. Ableism.
People have either grabbed my cane or my guide dog harness handle to “help” us across the street or get to a destination. They assume we need help, just because I have a disability, even though they never asked. This usually does a lot more harm than good and is incredibly frustrating. Ableism.
I’ve been introduced as someone’s “blind friend” before. Now if my best friend I mentioned earlier who is also blind wants to explain how we met because we both have the same eye condition and disability, that is usually OK. But if someone without a disability introduces me and one of the first things they use to introduce me is my disability? That’s not OK. Ableism.
Research has shown that because of the growth of the other employees toward blind or disabled people. Here is the result of the research:
Employer knowledge is limited about how people who are blind can perform basic job tasks.
Self-reported attitudes vary widely among employers, from extremely negative to completely positive, but on average they fall in the middle, or neutral, range of our attitude measure.
Implicit attitudes also vary but on average are strongly negative, indicating that employers tend to automatically associate competence with sighted people and incompetence with blind people.
Knowing how blind people can perform job tasks is related to more positive self-reported and implicit attitudes.
More positive self-reported employer attitudes are associated with a greater likelihood of hiring someone who is blind.
This has caused Even though they are disabled that does not mean and justify an act of ableism towards them. We can act and support them by being an anti-ableist in the workplace. There are several ways to combat ableism towards disabled people in the workplace which are:
1. Hire blind people: Actively recruit, refer, and recommend blind and low vision candidates for interesting job opportunities. Your company will benefit—as the human rights lawyer Haben Girma has noted, people with disabilities drive innovation.
2. Start an internship program for people who are blind at your company or organization.
3. Create an employee resource group for staff with disabilities to share tips, strategies, networking opportunities, and support for new hires.
4. Be an internal champion for inclusion: Ensure your website and digital assets (PDF files, presentations, etc.) are accessible.
5. Add audio description and captions to your company’s videos and describe images that go out on social media. Learn more about our recommended social media accessibility guidelines.
6. Watch and share AFB’s webinars on Mitigating Unconscious Bias and Creating Inclusive Remote Work Environments. (All AFB webinars are captioned and audio described, and full transcripts are available.)
7. Include accessibility requirements in your vendor agreements. Make your expectations clear. Learn more about Creating a Workplace Culture of Accessibility: 7 Questions to Ask Your Vendors.
8. Routinely include people with different access methods in your usability testing. Disability is not an edge case. If you maintain a website, manage an email newsletter, or develop software of any kind, you are already designing for people with disabilities. According to the CDC, 1 in 4 Americans has a disability of some kind.
9. Participate in our Workplace Tech Study—AFB is taking a multi-pronged approach to understand the technology experiences, training tools, required tasks, barriers, and accessibility needs of people in competitive, knowledge-based fields. And we need sighted participants, too! If you work in finance, healthcare, or IT/communications, learn more about participating in a focus group.
10. Hire AFB Consulting to train your development team on inclusive design principles, or focus on how to improve your disability inclusion efforts.
Bibliography
Author AFB Staff. (2020, October 13). 10 Ways to Be Anti-Ableist and Promote Disability Inclusion at Work. Retrieved November 20, 2020, from https://www.afb.org/blog/entry/anti-ableism
Horton, A. (2019, October 17). These are the challenges that blind people have in navigating the workplace. Retrieved November 20, 2020, from https://www.fastcompany.com/90418293/the-challenges-of-being-blind-in-the-workplace
LPM FEB UI. (2017). LAPORAN AKHIR MEMETAKAN PENYANDANG DISABILITAS (PD) DI PASAR TENAGA KERJA INDONESIA. Lembaga Penyelidikan Ekonomi Dan Masyarakat.
Naert, J. (2017, April 25). I Don't Suffer From Blindness. I Suffer From Ableism. Retrieved November 20, 2020, from https://themighty.com/2017/04/how-ableism-causes-suffering-for-people-with-disabilities/
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