# Are you an ableist? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 16, 2017, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-ableist/799040 "2017-10-16T11:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delicious)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-ableist/799040/41 "2017-10-19T08:00:11Z")
> [@Maurie](#): > > Wow, this makes me really sad. I’m not chastising you - I understand that you’re acknowledging that your reaction isn’t necessarily rational - but I do urge you to re-examine this perspective. > > For starters, you’re likely thinking of paralympics (Special Olympics is specific to intellectual disabilities). The underlying philosophy to para sports is “sport-first”, and these are impressive, accomplished athletes who train hard and perform at levels well above the average able-bodied person. That you would liken strong, talented competitors accomplishing outstanding feats of athleticism to a “freak show” is hard for me to get my head around. > > I would encourage you to make an effort to get over whatever “ick” you feel about seeing a body with a disability – it’s genuinely secondary to the athleticism being displayed. I do realise some of the stuff paralympians can do is really impressive. I think it’s down to how I was brought up; i was taught not to mention or appear to notice a person’s disability because that would be rude. So having a whole Olympics counter to that feels weird. Also, pretty much every other situation where a legless body is flying/flipping in the air is a legitimate cause for alarm. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-ableist/799040/42 "2017-10-20T13:55:25Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > How about all those resources spent on soldiers wounded in battle? Or idiots disabled in car accidents? I would wish to examine the appropriate resources to expend in each instance, without approving or denying all expenditures. Is that a difficult concept? My personal opinion is that our current expenditures towards “disabled” veterans are monstrously abused and unsustainable. But that is not a topic that many people are willing to discuss - and likely beyond the scope of this thread. And if someone gets in a car accident while speeding, drunk, not wearing a seatbelt, and uninsured? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-ableist/799040/43 "2017-10-20T14:32:34Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I do believe there are reasonable limits as to the extent our society “accommodates” people with disabilities. I put “accommodates” in quotes because there are things that are simply unavailable to me and other disabilities people, irrespective of accessibility. I can’t participate in a foot race no matter how accessible said race is. As a disabled man who expects similar rights and agency of that of the able-bodied, I expect to only have the ability to watch the foot race in person, not to be able to participate in the race. I’m not delusional about my reality. I think it’s a pretty rare case where someone would expect absurd accommodation for a disability of the kind you mention. But I do recall the case of a someone who wanted a variance in the PGA rules that requires golfers to stand unassisted and carry their own bags throughout a game. It’s been a while, I don’t remember all the details, but the individual’s request was denied, at least initially, they could walk and stand, but apparently not for the entire game. Those rules have always applied in the game, although it is a silly game part of it for some reason entails a degree of physical endurance requiring fairly able legs. Despite the fact that I couldn’t sink a putt in a 2 foot wide hole from more than 10 feet away, if I could compete in PGA golf I doubt my own knees would hold up. From time to time we are going to run into the not so clearly defined line between reasonable and unreasonable accommodations. In the converse situations able legged people have been derided for participating in wheelchair races. It was astounding to some people to see these competitors stand up at the end of the race and pick up their wheelchairs and carry them away. They argued that they competed according to the rules, but even in a wheelchair race someone with fully working legs can gain an advantage through the additional leverage they can apply to their upper body through their legs. I think these borderline cases would not be much of an issue if not for the traditionally allowed discrimination against people who had some physical disability. Not even just the legal discrimination or lack of accommodation, but merely the socially acceptable derision of those who could be a little slower at boarding a bus. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2017, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-ableist/799040/44 "2017-10-20T14:52:53Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > But I do recall the case of a someone who wanted a variance in the PGA rules that requires golfers to stand unassisted and carry their own bags throughout a game. It’s been a while, I don’t remember all the details, but the individual’s request was denied, at least initially, they could walk and stand, but apparently not for the entire game. [Casey Martin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGA_Tour,_Inc._v._Martin) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-ableist/799040.md?page=2)