Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally

by Emily Ladau

it’s important to think about how we talk about disability, because the way we talk shapes how we think, and the way we think shapes how we talk.

But ableism takes a heavy toll. Too many disabled people have been led to believe that our very lives are not worth living. And if there’s one thing—just one—that you take away from reading this book, let it be this: That line of thinking is unequivocally untrue. Disabled lives are worth living.

So if you’re not sure whether you should ask something, here’s a good rule to follow: If you wouldn’t ask a nondisabled person the same question in the same context, don’t ask a disabled person.

Don’t make assumptions about what people can and can’t do. And remember that we all do and process things differently.

Lived experience trumps any sort of research that one can do about what it is to be disabled.

So please, don’t speak for us, about us, or over us. Speak to us and with us.