Urban Collectives Meet Anti-Ableism

[image description: a for rent sign]

I was drawn to this article through Beth's blog (I just LOVE Beth's blog btw). Frankly, I LOVE the idea of of urban collectives. If I or my roomate should ever move out (when?) I think I'll post an ad similar to the women in the article. It is really hard for some people to "get" an activist. I think I'd LOVE to live with that particular group of people. ANTI ABLEISM? What able bodied person has ever heard of ableism? I myself just ran across the word 3 years ago, completely by accident (although the concept has always been way too familiar). SO COOL!

The purpose of Beth's post was to comment on just that, rightly so, and not the over all concept of urban collectives. In fact, she only posted that section of the article. I take issue with the fact that the article refers to these arrangements as "group homes," as well as the handling of ableism. That the journalist had no idea what ableism is, as I said, is no surprise. And she sort of has a duty to explain the concept to readers as well, but I agree with Beth that she did it in a rather sarcastic and disrespectful way. I think explaining ableism in detail would detract from the purpose of the article, but there is certainly a better way to explain it then how she did. In (parentheses) or with an -- em dash perhaps. Ableism, like ageism, classism, racism, sexism, is an "ism." It's a predijuce in which people believe (consciously or subconsciously) that people with disabilities are inferior to non disabled individuals. Something less wordy, but that's my definition in case some readers do not know the term either.

Is it really that hard to be respectful?