Thread by @ekverstania

One reason why disabled people generally get a raw deal from society is because the organisations designed specifically to serve them are often bastions of ableist hypocrisy.

Every SEN school, residential facility, disability service organisation and local SASSA office should set a transformation timeline for appointing at the very least a representative number of disabled staff, especially in leading roles.

They should ALL be trained in the #CRPD and in anti-ableist practices. If the actual disability sector can't model it for the rest of society, how on earth do they expect general institutions to become more inclusive?

One disabled person, even as a CEO, is not enough. Internalised ableism is a thing. Vertical and lateral ableism are a problem. Too many disabled people are playing up to the 'overcame my disability and became an inspirational role model' trope.

Those people are Nice to Appoint, because they won't disrupt the status quo.

We need to disrupt the status quo.

We need the kind of changemakers that don't just have a revolutionary slogans mindset, but who will actually do the slog.

I believe in the importance of first language education right up to a tertiary level, and in business and institutions. That's why I keenly follow the news about Xhosa PhD candidates, because developing Xhosa as an academic language is vital to social and cultural health.

My own mother tongue is Afrikaans.

So imagine there was an Afrikaans medium school that was supposed to prepare children for tertiary study at Afrikaans medium institutions. Only one weirdness: none of the school staff have Afrikaans as a first language. They speak English in staff meetings.

Bizarre?

Then think about the average school aimed at autistic children.

Where are the autistic teachers? Consultants? Anything? You employed two former pupils as janitors and that's ALL? That's the message you send out into the world about how things should be?

You don't get away with "MoSt oF tHe sTaFf hAvE sEeN thE mOvIe aBoUt tHe LiFe oF TeMple GrAnDin."

You have nonspeakers at your school? Riiiight. Who are your nonspeaking consultants?

You're an institution of learning, but you don't know how to learn, because you won't lower yourself before the type of people you purport to teach.

So what qualifies you to teach, then?

It's not just schools.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1395331338471890945?s=19

I recently read that compared to other professions, priesthood attracts a high number of psychopaths [citation needed], which are obviously not an ideal fit for that type of work.

Similarly, I think that there are some people in the disability sector who chose it for the wrong reasons. I've heard a few teachers say that the greatest job reward for them is the children's expressions of gratitude towards them. I find this desire for validation disturbing.

I understand that people need affirmation that they have done their job well, and it stands to reason that you'd want endorsement from the people you've served, but there are healthier ways of measuring your success than making it about you.

Building on an anti-ableist foundation may be easier than teaching old dogs a new paradigm, but we don't have the luxury of throwing out the old, even as we need to build a great deal more capacity with the new.

Ableist professionals can change. Sometimes it takes a long time, but those who want to, can and do.

We need more social workers, more schools for disabled children, more temporary and permanent accommodation, more health support services.

But we don't need just a duplication of what's out there.

We need progress in a BETTER direction.

And you'll be surprised how many old ableist professionals are excited by the prospect of transformation, because it ignites in them a renewed passion and hope for making a difference which may have been dampened by years of drudgery and survival sustained by toxic positivity.