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Innov High Educ (2015) 40:375386
DOI 10.1007/s10755-015-9320-0
Shanna K. Kattari
Published online: 26 February 2015# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
Abstract In most societies, some social identity groups hold a disproportionate amount of social, cultural, and economic power, while other groups hold little. In contemporary U.S. society, examples of this power are evident around issues of ability/disability, with able-bodied individuals wielding social dominance and people with disabilities experiencing a lack of social, cultural, and economic power. However, this relationship between able-bodied individuals and people with disabilities is neither static nor determinant; and through social modeling it may be altered to foster increased positive outcomes for people with disabilities, including both undergraduate and graduate students. As educators and institutional staff members frequently engage with students with disabilities, improving ally behavior and overall accessibility will increase rapport building with students, leading to more just and equitable interactions.
Keywords ableism . ally behavior. diversity. disability. higher education
The extensive literature on diversity reflects a significant amount of work on issues of racism, sexism, and heterosexism, and their corresponding privileges. The discussion around disability has been going on for several decades. The mainstream disability rights movement gained momentum in the 1960s and 1970s (Wolbring, 2012), and the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990 (United States Code, 2008). However, significantly less attention has been given to ableism and the privilege of those who do not have disabilities. Ableism, which is defined as the act of prejudice or discrimination against people with disabilities and the devaluation of disability (Hehir, 2002), and able-bodied privilege, which is the set of unearned privileges held by individuals without disabilities, are connected systems that maintain stratification around disability. Ableism covers a wide range of behaviors and structural and cultural norms, and it is
Shanna K Kattari is a doctoral student at the University of Denver. She received her Masters of Education from Widener University. Her research interests include examining the impacts of power, privilege, and oppression on people with disabilities and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community, as well as sexual experiences of people with marginalized identities.
S. K. Kattari (*)
Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Examining Ableism in Higher...