ableist

[ey-buhl-ist]

adjective

1. relating to, involving, or fostering discrimination against disabled people: ableist architecture;

   ableist language;

   ableist architecture;

   implicitly ableist laws.

2. tending to regard people with a disability as incomplete, diminished, or damaged, and to measure the quality of life with a disability against a nondisabled standard: ableist assumptions.

   an ableist culture;

   ableist assumptions.

noun

1. A person with ableist assumptions, beliefs, or attitudes.

   The work of changing how ableists think often falls to people with disabilities.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ableist¹

First recorded in 1980–85; able ( def. ) + -ist ( def. )

Example Sentences

In a statement, Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson’s office said he and a group of elected officials “are outraged that a member of the Teachers Association of Long Beach’s Executive Board, John Solomon, shared a racist and ableist message with TALB’s negotiations committee. Such behavior is unacceptable, harmful to Black students and students with disabilities, and unworthy of any leader in education.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“For over a decade at Fox, Faraji was forced to endure a misogynistic, racist, and ableist workplace where executives and talent were allowed to physically and verbally abuse workers with impunity,” the lawsuit alleged.

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The movie changed with time, taking on deeper meaning by igniting conversations about how women are depicted in media, and cracked open the inherently flawed “crazy woman” trope to reveal it as what it is: ableist and misogynistic.

Read more on Salon

Maskell said she was glad there had been a public debate about the issue and "now disabled people should feel empowered to have their voice at long last in an ableist parliament".

Read more on BBC

That lawsuit — which also named former Fox Sports host Skip Bayless and current host Joy Taylor as defendants — alleges Faraji “was forced to endure a misogynistic, racist, and ableist workplace where executives and talent were allowed to physically and verbally abuse workers with impunity” during her decade-plus working at the network.

Read more on Los Angeles Times