Inclusive participation means that anyone who wants to participate should be able to. Roughly one in four people in the United States have some form of disability — and must navigate society in whatever way they can. Those who can do it without support are often seen as resilient and those who cannot are considered less than, and their participation in society becomes limited.
This was one of the main ideas from “Pathologizing Ability: Considering Neurodivergent Experiences and Ableism in Learning Spaces,” presented at the National Association for Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) annual meeting Friday by Dr. Naomi Nishi, Associate Dean for Culture, Community, and Accessible Care at Colorado State University.
Dr. Naomi Nishi
“I worry particularly about the use of resilience in kind of our age of both well-being work, and in that are we starting to blame disabled people for not being more resilient. And this goes for other identities as well, but so often I hear things when somebody asks for help, I hear things like resilience,” she said. “I hear things like personal responsibility. You should have thought about that. You should have asked for support earlier. You didn't ask for support at the right time.’”
Many institutions operate under the basic principle that accommodations for those who request them should be honored. But for institutions relying on the medical model of disability, there are questions around not just how to give accommodations, but to whom—especially if students haven’t been formally diagnosed. It is in this way that the pathology of neurodivergence and disability persist.
“We cannot meaningfully have democracy if we do not have full participation,” said Nishi. "We cannot have full participation if we are excluding by any type of identity, ... including by disability. We’re going to identify, prevent, and dismantle ableist assumptions and teaching policy, and apply anti-deficit and neuro ability inclusive strategies.”
She explained there are two models of disability: the medical model and the social model of disability. The medical model describes disability as caused by a physical, mental, or sensory impairment. This is a deficit-centered approach, which pathologizes neurodivergence and disability, and it is inherently harmful, Nishi said. “Pathology is the study of disease ... the medical profession is to cure, alleviate the effect of the impairment, to fix the person,” she said. This model prioritizes what is “normal” or “neurotypical” at the expense of those who do not meet those standards. This is the root of ableism, which Nishi said is a tool wielded in all systems of oppression.
“Not only is it used against disabled people and or neurodivergent people, it is a key tool of white supremacism patriarchy,” she said.
