Robin Kipe is almost 20 years old. They are an Undeclared major at Ramapo College of New Jersey. They have a learning disability, which has currently been labeled ADD and/or ADHD, but they feel that their learning disability is yet to be properly diagnosed. They also have depression. These are their responses to questions about their experiences with ableism.
What would you say is your earliest remembered experience with ableism?
Hard to remember a “first time”. I remember getting in trouble for not looking at the teacher when she was talking. I’d be listening but she was convinced that I had to look at her the whole time.
I got teased a lot for being in the “dumb class.”
The [freaking] in class support teachers. They would always condescend and talk like [you] were a toddler and would get [way] to excited when [you] did something right. [I know} their job is to be encouraging, but the show they put on when you did well made it not worth the bother.
I hated in class support.
It was like that thing they do in Dora where she [is] all, “Can [you] find the square?”
Makes [you] feel stupid.
How do you feel ableism holds you back socially, professionally, academically, etc.?
[Definitely] academically. I got a learning disability so that holds me back to some degree. But I feel like it’s the comments over the years that mess me up. When I was younger, people told me I couldn’t do a lot of stuff or that it was to be expected that I was bad at something. No one says that now, but I internalized it then so now I think “oh well maybe I really can’t do this” whenever I fail at something.
When has ableism impacted you the hardest? What were the consequences of it?
College. It was always emphasized that I was not expected to go to college. Whenever a teacher or relative would talk about future plans it would be “blah blah blah when you go to college-” they’d look at me “-, or wherever else you go.” Like I said [before], even though I’m in college now, I still get the imprinted thought that failure is inevitable because that’s just how it is for me.
What do you feel would be a good solution to this problem socially?
Don’t single out disabled people just to “include” them. Offer help when help is needed, but don’t act like people don’t have agency.
Be inclusive overall, instead of last minute.
Do you feel our government is ableist? Why?
In letter no, in practice yes. The laws say [you] gotta be inclusive but how often do [you] see any disabled people in government. Hardly ever, and if they are, it’s usually a [visible] disability and it gets played up for good optics. They only do what they [got to] do to keep everyone quiet.
What kind of laws do you think should be passed to help combat this issue?
It’s not really a law issue as much as a conduct issue which is a bigger problem to fix, though I’m sure some laws are attributed to it. I’m not well informed on the subject, but any effort to speak up about this should be encouraged.
Any final statement about this subject that you would like to make to conclude?
Disabled equality is a problem that gets seen as a luxury. People say there’s more important things to worry about. Whether that’s true or not, the way we treat people will always matter.