ableist

American  

[ey-buhl-ist] / ˈeɪ bəl ɪst /

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.

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noun

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

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

Etymology

Origin of ableist

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

Example Sentences

Denver Quarterly evidently bars material that lays bare social evils, since “we do not tolerate submissions that contain hate speech, bigotry, discrimination, or racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or ableist language or violence of any kind.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 28, 2026

But there has to be some room in the discussion for a reasonable amount of pushback without anyone being labeled an ableist, be-monocled dinosaur—and, apparently, fearing for their job.

From Slate • Nov. 28, 2022

The consensus among disability civil rights leaders is that Fetterman's stroke, and his recovery, have lit up ableist assumptions that are normalized and under-discussed in our culture.

From Salon • Nov. 1, 2022

Price’s encouragement to “unmask” is also a call for neurotypical society to drop ableist assumptions and to listen to Autistics about their needs.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2022

Author Sir Philip Pullman has resigned as president of the Society of Authors in the wake of a controversy over his support for an author who was accused of racial and ableist stereotyping.

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2022