Home » Guidance » What is “capacitatism” and how seemingly innocent attitudes can hurt others

What is “capacitatism” and how seemingly innocent attitudes can hurt others

The term ‘capacitism’ has been translated from an English way, ableism🇧🇷 It is used to describe discrimination, prejudice and oppression against people with disabilities, but not just that. When you offer a piece of cake to a person who is on a diet and claim that just one bite won’t kill anyone, you are committing a similar action. Or when you park in a space designated for people with disabilities and think that “it will only be 5 minutes”. Or even when he tells his friend that he suffers from depression to cheer him up, because “it’s all in his head”. All these actions hurt the feelings of others and completely ignore their needs.

Today the awesome.club wants to talk a little about capacitism and the different ways in which it can manifest itself. It’s important to recognize that these actions can harm others even when they seem completely innocent.

What is capacitism and who are the capacitists

The term ‘capacitism’ has been used since 1981 and means “social discrimination and prejudice against people with a disability”. In practice, capacitism is a set of beliefs, words and actions that discriminate against people with a physical or psychiatric disability; moreover, disability is seen as something to be overcome or corrected.

Capacity manifests itself every day in different ways: when you use a bathroom for people with special needs or when you question the need for a special bathroom to be installed in a company or even in a public space; when you tell your colleague (who you know has a disability) that he looks fine; or yet when you admire people with disabilities who live life as if they were “normal”🇧🇷 Regardless of how these actions manifest themselves, they all hurt others.

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The importance of knowing examples of people who practice capacitism

A few months ago the hashtag was created #YouMightBeAbleistIf (“you can be an ableist if”, in free translation), used to describe situations in life where we may be harming the feelings of people with disabilities, intentionally or unintentionally. We researched some posts with this hashtag and chose the ones that illustrate the concept and its different forms very well. We hope these posts manage to show the importance of respecting the feelings and needs of others.

“If you are shocked or surprised when a person with a disability has a professional degree, is married, has children, has a job or a business, or basically does/has something that others do/have”

A pick-up truck for wheelchair users

“If you think that accommodations (adapted spaces) are just a special treat, and not what they really are: an equalizer”

“If you completely ignore your child, explaining that he is having trouble socializing/learning/understanding something/staying focused/thinking straight, and that this is because he is lazy or lacks self-control”

“If you tend to ignore the limits of people with disabilities when it comes to ‘helping’. You are not doing this for us; If you can’t ask first, you’re just doing it to feel like a hero.”

“If you say that the other person’s disability, which affects virtually everything that person does, shouldn’t be part of their identity; unlike your health/training/diet scheme, which is part of your identity”

“If you think ‘eating healthy’ will cure medical problems. Eating vegetables is not going to cure me, Karen!”

“If you don’t see me as having a disability. That’s not a compliment. I want you to see me as having a disability, because that’s who I am. When you don’t see the disability, you erase a fundamental aspect of my identity.”

“If you feel you have the right to interact with my service dog without consent”

“If you congratulate every teenager who takes a person with a disability to prom. They don’t need medals for treating people like human beings.”

Can you think of other examples of situations that show ableism? After reading this article, do you think you’ve ever behaved like an ableist? Tell in the comments.


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