I’m Native American. If a start a movement for specifically my tribe (Ayamara & Quichua) to discuss issues specific to natives in the Altaplana, other natives aren’t going to start complaining that they’re being unfairly excluded. Me starting a group for people like me isn’t saying that other natives aren’t native, and it’s not invalidating their indigeneity.
So then why is it that when a marginalized group like physically disabled people want a movement specifically about the struggles we face as physically disabled people, we’re told we’re unfairly excluding others?
Why do people feel entitled the cripplepunk movement, a movement and space that isn’t for them, especially when there are plenty of movements that center their experiences?
There are two main reasons I’ve seen:
“””””internalized”””””” ableism: you feel as if your mental disability doesn’t count as a disability, so when you’re told that you can’t participate in a space for only physically disabled people, you feel as if that confirms your ableist internal belief that you’re not disabled enough. “Internalized” is in quotes because people with this attitude really just externalize it to hurt others.
“””””Lateral””””” ableism: as a disabled person, you hold and perpetuate beliefs that echo the wider structures of institutional and systemic ableism, and you feel entitled to hold those beliefs because you are disabled. This is comparable to trans people who are transmedicalists. “Lateral” is in quotes because most of the time, people who hold this attitude are lashing out at people with a completely different disability than them.
So let me ask you: why do you feel so fucking entitled to a movement that’s NOT FOR YOU?
And before you say “I’m physically disabled and I think it’s fine for non-physically disabled but mentally disabled people to be included”, re-read the “lateral” ableism point. Your ableist opinions aren’t correct just because you’re disabled.
DISCLAIMER: I’m not saying mentally disabled people aren’t disabled or that one kind of disability is always worse than the other. Any BS in replies will either be mocked or blocked.