How Disability is Criminalized Due to Systemic Ableism

Deficits

The dangers of ableism and the misrepresentations of the disability community in the arts have become ways that stereotypes, discrimination, and the criminalization of disability have led to negative social experiences people who are a part of the disability community. This week’s Disability Awareness Weekly highlights how societal ableism can leave people in the disability community vulnerable to justice involvement. As a result of public misunderstanding, the lack of training to staff intervening during a crisis or general miseducation on disability, people in the disability community are at a disproportionately high risk of their symptoms or reactions to stimuli being mistaken as violence, which increases their odds of interacting with the criminal justice system. I hope you enjoy the video, the articles, and the cartoons as well.