Stigma and Discrimination against People with Intellectual Disabilities
Stigma and Discrimination in Easy to Read.
Throughout history, people with intellectual disabilities have been ridiculed, pitied, beaten, segregated, demeaned, murdered, abused, misunderstood, patronized, ignored and forgotten. They have been denied their basic rights, and they have been treated as less than human. Even today, people with intellectual disabilities throughout the world continue to be disempowered and systematically excluded from full participation in society because of varying degrees of hate, fear, pity and ignorance.
Disability rights activists around the globe have worked hard to end this stigma and discrimination by attempting to change society's perspective on people with intellectual disabilities. Among many such individuals and organizations, the perspective from which their work takes place has shifted in recent years from one of charity to one of human rights. Charity, while well-intentioned, creates an 'us' and 'them' dichotomy, thus maintaining an idea of people with intellectual disabilities as 'the other' and keeping them separate from mainstream society. In addition, charity towards any population is paternalistic; it rarely reflects the abilities or potentials of the people being supported and is consequently disempowering. Therefore, many advocates and self-advocates instead see the treatment of people with intellectual disabilities as a human rights issue. According to this perspective, it is not a (dis)ability or diagnosis that handicaps people and denies them access. Rather, people with intellectual disabilities are excluded from society and deprived of their fundamental rights on the basis of society's reaction to an actual or perceived lack of ability. From the human rights point of view, people with intellectual disabilities are seen as people first, and from that base it is clear that, as people, their rights must be respected, upheld, and fought for.
From the human rights perspective, working to end stigma and discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities requires work at all levels of society. Advocacy and self-advocacy groups may have initiatives that focus on local and national public policy, education of the general population, empowerment, international conventions and monitoring, deinstitutionalization, community-based services and supports, and more. Globally, one can find numerous examples of how advocacy and self-advocacy groups working for the full social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities are fighting stigma and discrimination and making a positive difference.
In spite of many positive efforts for change at the local and global levels, much work remains to be done. Count the number of times the words "retard," "spaz," or "SPED," occur in daily conversation in the English-speaking world, and it will be clear that an understanding and awareness of intellectual disability has not reached the majority of the general population. Visit the institutions that continue to segregate thousands of people away from the community, denying them their basic right to be a member of society, and it will be clear that more effort must go towards deinstitutionalization and the provision of community-based housing and other services. Note how people with intellectual disabilities are portrayed in the mainstream media, on television, and in the movies, and it will be clear that little respect is accorded to people who are labeled.
In this section you will find information on work that is being done internationally to address these and other issues of stigma and discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities. You can follow links to best practices, publications and reports, and other useful links.