Disability discrimination

Ableism /ˈeɪblɪzəm/ (also known as ablism,disablism, anapirophobia, anapirism, disability discrimination, and handicapism) is discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities. Ableism characterizes persons as defined by their disabilities and as inferior to the non-disabled. On this basis, people are assigned or denied certain perceived abilities, skills, and/or character traits. Discrimination faced by those who have or are perceived to have a mental disorder is sometimes called mentalism rather than ableism.

There are stereotypes associated with various disabilities. These stereotypes in turn serve as a justification for ableist practices and reinforce discriminatory attitudes and behaviors toward people who are disabled. Labeling affects people when it limits their options for action or changes their identity.

In ableist societies, people with disabilities are viewed as less valuable to society, or even less than human. The eugenics movement of the early 20th century could be considered an example of widespread ableism. The mass murder of disabled in the German Nazi Government's Aktion T4 could be an extreme example of ableism.

Other definitions of ableism include those of Chouinard, who defines it as "ideas, practices, institutions, and social relations that presume able-bodiedness, and by so doing, construct persons with disabilities as marginalized […] and largely invisible 'others,'" and of Amundson and Taira, who define ableism as "a doctrine that falsely treats impairments as inherently and naturally horrible and blames the impairments themselves for the problems experienced by the people who have them."

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