Or what would that be called? Pretty much the same things that would usually be considered ableism, but when there’s not a recognised disability involved but just health issue/s (which could be “disabling”).

For example, not believing someone about their health issue, dismissing it or refusing to believe that it impacts their ability to function or can be a valid excuse for things (often solely on the basis that it’s not a recognised disability), blaming someone’s health issue on different things they aren’t caused by (and trying to attribute it to the person’s behaviour as if it’s their fault), and/or claiming that their opinions can’t be taken seriously due to their health problem

Would it be called health-based discrimination or something (despite somewhat mimicking the same mentalities as ableism)?

  • Cagi
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    7 months ago

    If your medical situation impacts your life in any way, that’s a disability. Being short sighted is a disability, having chronic diarrhea or headaches is a disability. Having a disability and being disabled should be the same thing in common speech, but confusingly, it is not. You are disabled if you experience significant barriers to everyday life because of medical circumstances. If you believe that’s you, then you are free to identify as disabled.

    Another confusing wrench is governmental disability designations. The definition changes from region to region based on politics, not medicine. This is only a metric of whether or not you require the services available to you in your region. It is not your identity and does not mean you are not disabled or don’t deal with disabilities just because some underfunded ministry rejected your application.

    So in short, you get to identify as disabled if you feel the label is helpful, it’s not something doctors use because any medical impediment is a disability. It’s more a social term than a medical one.