So I'm kind of confused about what an "Ableist" exactly means.

[Spider RedNight]

Against my better judgement, I was slogging around on deviantArt where I came across someone who recently had a fight with my sister. Curious and naturally sort of pissed off that someone tangled with her, I went to their page where I saw a journal saying "Don't ship Kylo Ren with anyone, he has Borderline Personality Disorder".

I commented that I disagreed because that discredits people who have actual problems, whether it's that or not and just saying "he's mentally ill forgive him" sweeps the issue under the rug.

Then he called me an ableist. And as I noticed, that's a term he uses VERY often as if it discredits any topic for debate so that made me confused since I don't really care that what I said might sound ableist though...

By definition, and ableist is someone who discriminates against the mentally disabled, right? So is there a different meaning that I'm not getting because EVERYTHING is ableist to this guy.

And I'm just asking out of curiosity.

 

[Zontar]

Abelist is just a term slapped on to things that are perceived to (but very, very rarely actually) be demeaning to people with disabilities. It's another Tumblrism that's a fad that will not last more then a few years before it becomes excessively hard to find people using it unironically. It's basically the "check your privilege" of the moment.

 

[EternallyBored]

The only thing you're missing is that Ableism is generally referring to any handicap, not just the mentally handicap, so discriminating against a blind person would fall under the same category. It's not really a term you'll hear often outside the internet though, so unless you are actually being a douchebag to someone with a disability I wouldn't worry too much about it.

In the case you describe, it's seems you are arguing with someone who is using it to enforce their headcanon, which is fucking stupid. Although, given that it's Deviantart, you are likely arguing with someone who is either very young or mentally disabled themselves, so it's probably best just to leave them alone, defending your sister's feelings on Deviantart is likely going to be an exercise in futility. Anyone that thinks their headcanon interpretation of a character means nobody should ship them, and doing so actually counts as discrimination against disabled people, is someone that isn't going to be reasoned with or shamed for their actions.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Abelist is just a term slapped on to things that are perceived to (but very, very rarely actually) be demeaning to people with disabilities. It's another Tumblrism that's a fad that will not last more then a few years before it becomes excessively hard to find people using it unironically. It's basically the "check your privilege" of the moment.

Abelism and abelist are terms that have existed a lot longer than Tumblr. It's also not about being demeaning to people with disabilities, abelism is about using someone's disability to portray them as incapable, irresponsible for their own actions, and as if they have less value by the logic that disabled people are worthless. Along with that abelism is also discriminating against a person with physical disabilities, mental disabilities, or mental illness, because of their disability. A perfect example of abelist attitudes is refusal to install a wheelchair ramp in a place that has only stairs, out of some misguided assumption that wheelchair users are faking their condition, can over come it on a whim, and/or just plain not wanting "crippleds" around.

OP: Well funny thing here. The person who is saying not to ship Kylo Ren with anyone because Kylo has borderline personality disorder. That's the person being abelist, by calling anyone abelist for disagreeing with them they're misusing the term and projecting harder than a power point presentation. Hope that helps.

 

[Zontar]

A perfect example of abelist attitudes is refusal to install a wheelchair ramp in a place that has only stairs, out of some misguided assumption that wheelchair users are faking their condition, can over come it on a whim, and/or just plain not wanting "crippleds" around.

So it's like racism and sexism in that it's real, but 99% of the time someone accuses someone of being or doing it they're not using the term right because it's a slight that's not actually there and it's just their being nuts.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

A perfect example of abelist attitudes is refusal to install a wheelchair ramp in a place that has only stairs, out of some misguided assumption that wheelchair users are faking their condition, can over come it on a whim, and/or just plain not wanting "crippleds" around.

So it's like racism and sexism in that it's real, but 99% of the time someone accuses someone of being or doing it they're not using the term right because it's a slight that's not actually there and it's just their being nuts.

Well I wouldn't say 99% of the time accusations of sexism, racism, or abelism are imagining things and "just being nuts"[footnote]Saying it that way is considered abelist against the mentally ill.[/footnote], because most casual abelism, sexism, and racism are dismissed not being racist, abelist, or sexist. Still yes, there are plenty people out there who misuse the term as a politically correct buzzword as an attempt to invalidate things other's say that they disagree with.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Being ableist doesn't have to be against the people with mental issues, it can be against anyone with a disability (on the basis of that disability).

It's a very common problem in our society, one the usual suspects will deny existing.

I can't see how shipping someone with anyone is ableist...there are aspects of shipping that can be murky, but not the very idea of shipping someone that is neuroatypical.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I can't see how shipping someone with anyone is ableist...there are aspects of shipping that can be murky, but not the very idea of shipping someone that is neuroatypical.

In this case, there is some abelism going on, but not on the part of people shipping neuroatypical characters. The abelism is assuming that neuroatypical characters can't be shipped at all, period. Which is basically saying that you have to be neurotypical for romance. As a trans person and someone with anxiety disorder, I find that doubly insulting.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I can't see how shipping someone with anyone is ableist...there are aspects of shipping that can be murky, but not the very idea of shipping someone that is neuroatypical.

In this case, there is some abelism going on, but not on the part of people shipping neuroatypical characters. The abelism is assuming that neuroatypical characters can't be shipped at all, period. Which is basically saying that you have to be neurotypical for romance. As a trans person and someone with anxiety disorder, I find that doubly insulting.

Ah, that thing again, that's very ableist, yes.

 

[The Lunatic]

It's another tumblrism that's seemingly only really used for the purposes of oppression Olympics and has no practical use in the real world.

 

[Lady Larunai]

Like most terms thrown around by tumblr and other that use SJW nonsense its a meaningless term much like priv-lege, objectified, bigot, racism, sexist its been so abused and misused its lost most of its meaning the most common users wouldn't know the actual definition if you beat them with a dictionary

 

[wizzy555]

Personality disorders don't make much sense in the same way as "they can't help it they have a mental illness", a personality disorder means a person is sooo narcissistic or violent or unstable that a psychologist felt the need to classify it as a disorder.

It's a bit like saying "He's an arsehole but he's so much an arsehole it's a class-category therefore you can't call him an arsehole".

 

[Silvanus]

So it's like racism and sexism in that it's real, but 99% of the time someone accuses someone of being or doing it they're not using the term right because it's a slight that's not actually there and it's just their being nuts.

You believe that racism and sexism are really that rare? Almost non-existent?

I wish I lived in your world.

 

[Lady Larunai]

So it's like racism and sexism in that it's real, but 99% of the time someone accuses someone of being or doing it they're not using the term right because it's a slight that's not actually there and it's just their being nuts.

You believe that racism and sexism are really that rare? Almost non-existent?

I wish I lived in your world.

If you go by the actual definition of the word rather than the the made up definitions those throwing the accusations of it use they would be that rare

 

[Silence]

So this guy is an ableist (for arguing that you shouldn't ship a "different" guy with anyone) and then calls you an ableist?

topkek.

As for what Ableism is: Basically thinking of a disabled person as worth less than a "healthy" person. Similar to racism or sexism, just with disabled people.

 

[Silvanus]

If you go by the actual definition of the word rather than the the made up definitions those throwing the accusations of it use they would be that rare

The incidences of hate [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hate-crime-statistics] crime [https://www.ncjrs.gov/app/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=131845], assault [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1540-4560.00257/abstract], vandalism [https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2015/november/latest-hate-crime-statistics-available/latest-hate-crime-statistics-available]-- it's all just mostly made up, you reckon?

What utter, utter drivel. There's no compelling reason whatsoever to take such a ludicrous claim seriously.

 

[JemothSkarii]

Ableism is... something I've never heard used in a meaningful context. But I only stumbled across it a couple of years ago when the whole Internet Feminism etc. thing just exploded. I dunno, it gets tossed around so much like rape and other such words on the internet that it's kinda lost all meaning to me.

It looks like you encountered one of those fanatic shipper things. Ignore and bail, that's my motto.

 

[JimB]

If you go by the actual definition of the word rather than the the made-up definitions those throwing the accusations of it use they would be that rare.

All definitions of words are made up. Language is a series of symbols, and symbols are subjective, not objective. If you want objectivity, then you will have to rely on numbers: specifically, doing research into how many incidents of ableism occur in a given area over a given time period.

 

[Lady Larunai]

If you go by the actual definition of the word rather than the the made up definitions those throwing the accusations of it use they would be that rare

The incidences of hate [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hate-crime-statistics] crime [https://www.ncjrs.gov/app/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=131845], assault [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1540-4560.00257/abstract], vandalism [https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2015/november/latest-hate-crime-statistics-available/latest-hate-crime-statistics-available]-- it's all just mostly made up, you reckon?

What utter, utter drivel. There's no compelling reason whatsoever to take such a ludicrous claim seriously.

Oh hey look the crime statistics for 2014 in which Hate crime make up less than 1% of... Actually less than .1%
https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2014-crime-statistics