The "Privilege Line" made into memes (2 versions). Filled out.

[capri0mni]

This is a follow-up to this post about the privilege-awareness exercise called "Walking the privilege line," where a group of workshop participants step forward or back depending on how they identify with statements about their lives.

The first version is heavily U.S. focused, and gives only token acknowledgement of disability as a target of bigotry; it has 35 questions.

Imagine a number line from -35 to +35, and starting at 0. I'll answer every question as honestly as I can, at face value, without any "Well, actually..." or "Yeah, but..." hedging (which, I think, will highlight faulty assumptions on the part of statement writer(s?); I'll mark those answers with a caret (^), and follow up with clarification, but the numbers will be unaltered.

1. If your parents worked nights and weekends to support your family, take one step back. Back to -1^ (My father was an airline captain with the highest seniority by the time he retired; he was allowed to make his own schedule, but that always included layovers).

2. If you are able to move through the world without fear of sexual assault, take one step forward. Stay at -1

3. If you can show affection for your romantic partner in public without fear of ridicule or violence, take one step forward. Stay at -1 (??? maybe ??? fear of disapproval/misunderstanding, at least -- people assume that any able bodied person who's with me is my caregiver, and two disabled people being romantic is often seen as "weird").

4. If you have ever been diagnosed as having a mental illness or physical disability, take one step back. Back to -2

5.If the primary language spoken in your household growing up was not English, take one step back. Stay at -2

6. If you came from a supportive family environment take one step forward. Forward to -1

7. If you have ever tried to change your speech or mannerisms to gain credibility, take one step back. Back to -2 (I have a moderate "C.P. accent")

8. If you can go anywhere in the country, and easily find the kinds of hair products you need and/or cosmetics that match your skin color, take one step forward. Forward to -1

9. If you were embarrassed about your clothes or house while growing up, take one step back. Stay at -1

10. If you can make mistakes and not have people attribute your behavior to flaws in your racial/gender group, take one step forward. Forward to 0^ (My mistakes might be attributed to my disability, but this is answered at face value).

11. If you can legally marry the person you love, regardless of where you live, take one step forward. Forward to 1.

12. If you were born in the United States, take one step forward. Forward to 2

13. If you or your parents have ever gone through a divorce, take one step back. Stay at 2

14. If you felt like you had adequate access to healthy food growing up, take one step forward. Forward to 3

15. If you are reasonably sure you would be hired for a job based on your ability and qualifications, take one step forward. Stay at 3

16. If you would never think twice about calling the police when trouble occurs, take one step forward. Stay at 3

17. If you can see a doctor whenever you feel the need, take one step forward. Forward to 4^ (I can see a doctor, but, as with the police, I might think twice before I do)

18. If you feel comfortable being emotionally expressive/open, take one step forward. Forward to 5

19. If you have ever been the only person of your race/gender/socio-economic status/sexual orientation in a classroom or workplace setting, take one step back. Stay at 5^ (I can think of only one time when I wasn't the sole disabled person in the room [outside of a workshop for disabled people] was when I was volunteering at a middle school, and there was one fifth-grade student who was the only disabled kid in her class, but that's not counted here).

20. If you took out loans for your education take one step backward. Stay at 5^ (I got financial aid to cover room and board in college, because my disability prevented me from being a commuting student. But that was a grant, not a loan)

21. If you get time off for your religious holidays, take one step forward. Forward to 6

22. If you had a job during your high school and college years, take one step back. Stay at 6^ (I wanted the opportunity to build a resume, but jobs for teens required the ability to drive at minimum, and usually the ability to stand and walk)

23. If you feel comfortable walking home alone at night, take one step forward. Stay at 6.

24. If you have ever traveled outside the United States, take one step forward. Forward to 7

25. If you have ever felt like there was NOT adequate or accurate representation of your racial group, sexual orientation group, gender group, and/or disability group in the media, take one step back. Back to 6

26. If you feel confident that your parents would be able to financially help/support you if you were going through a financial hardship, take one step forward. Stay at 6

27. If you have ever been bullied or made fun of based on something that you can’t change, take one step back. Back to 5

28. If there were more than 50 books in your house growing up, take one step forward. Forward to 6

29. If you studied the culture or the history of your ancestors in elementary school take one step forward. Forward to 7

30. If your parents or guardians attended college, take one step forward. Forward to 8

31. If you ever went on a family vacation, take one step forward. Forward to 9

32. If you can buy new clothes or go out to dinner when you want to, take one step forward. Stay at 9

33. If you were ever offered a job because of your association with a friend or family member, take one step forward. Forward to 10 (the only job I've had other than occasional writing on commission, and it was for one summer, between colleges).

34. If one of your parents was ever laid off or unemployed not by choice, take one step back. Stay at 10

35. If you were ever uncomfortable about a joke or a statement you overheard related to your race, ethnicity, gender, appearance, or sexual orientation but felt unsafe to confront the situation, take one step back. Back to 9

Final tally: 9/35. Well ... I got into the double-digits for a moment, there...

Now, here's my version. Because the main point of the exercise is to get people to think about what they take for granted, I tried to avoid using the word "Disability," and instead, focused on specific, common, consequences of being diagnosed with a disability -- which can differ quite a lot, based on what the disability is, and which most people without a disability never even see. I also tried to write statements that give people from marginalized groups an opportunity to step forward (including those privileges for PoC that Christina Torres suggested in this article). Statements based on my personal experiences with the Disability Community are emphasized. There are 39 questions in this one:

1. If you are able to move through the world without fear of sexual assault, take one step forward. Stay at 0
   
   
2. If you can show affection for your romantic partner in public without fear of criticism or violence, take one step forward. Stay at 0.
   
   
3. If you've ever been subjected to medical treatment, medication, or therapy without your consent, take one step back. Back to -1
   
   
4. If the primary language spoken in your household growing up was not the official language where you lived, take one step back. Stay at -1
   
   
5. If you came from a supportive family environment take one step forward. Forward to 0
   
   
6. If you have ever tried to change your speech or mannerisms to gain credibility, take one step back. Back to -1
   
   
7. If you can go anywhere in the country, and easily find the kinds of hair products you need and/or cosmetics that match your skin color, take one step forward. Forward to 0
   
   
8. If you had close relationships with elders or mentors who could identify with the barriers you faced as a child, take one step forward. Stay at 0
   
   
9. If you can make mistakes and not have people attribute your behavior to flaws in your racial/gender/disability group, take one step forward. Stay at 0
   
   
10. If you can legally marry the person you love, regardless of where you live, take one step forward. Forward to 1
    
    
11. If you are legally acknowledged as native born, take one step forward. Forward to 2
    
    
12. If you or your parents have ever gone through a divorce, take one step back. Stay at 2
    
    
13. If you felt like you had adequate access to healthy food growing up, take one step forward. Forward to 3
    
    
14. If you are reasonably sure you would be hired for a job based on your ability and qualifications, take one step forward. Stay at 3
    
    
15. If you would never think twice about calling the police when trouble occurs, take one step forward. Stay at 3
    
    
16. If you can accept an invitation to dinner or other social event without having to worry about your comfort or safety, take one step forward. Stay at 3
    
    
17. If you feel comfortable being emotionally expressive/open, take one step forward. Forward to 4
    
    
18. If you have ever traded time in your classroom or workplace for medical treatment or therapy, take one step back. Back to 3
    
    
19. If your school simplified what you were taught based on how easily you could fill out a standardized test form, take one step back. Stay at 3
    
    
20. If you get time off for your religious holidays, take one step forward. Forward to 4
    
    
21. If you had a job during your high school and college years, in order to cover expenses, take one step back. Stay at 4
    
    
22. If you took job opportunities during high school or college in order to build your resume/improve your future prospects, take one step forward. Stay at 4
    
    
23. If you feel comfortable walking home alone at night, take one step forward. Stay at 4
    
    
24. If you have ever traveled outside your home country, take one step forward. Forward to 5
    
    
25. If you are fluent in more than one language, take one step forward. Stay at 5
    
    
26. If you miss out on public information, news, and entertainment because its format is inaccessible, take one step back. Stay at 5
    
    
27. If you feel confident you'd have financial help/support you if you were going through a financial hardship, take one step forward. Stay at 5
    
    
28. If people ever suspect you of lying about your needs when you ask for help or accommodation, take one step back. Back to 4
    
    
29. If there were more than 50 books in your house growing up, take one step forward. Forward to 5
    
    
30. If you can take part equally in family conversations around the dinner table, take one step forward. Forward to 6
    
    
31. If your parents or guardians attended college, take one step forward. Forward to 7
    
    
32. If you are part of a social network where you can communicate in the language or mode that's comfortable for you, take one step forward. Forward to 8
    
    
33. If you can enter any business establishment on "Main Street" without planning ahead, take one step forward. Stay at 8
    
    
34. If you were ever offered a job because of your association with a friend or family member, take one step forward. Forward to 9
    
    
35. If one of your parents were ever laid off or unemployed not by choice, take one step back. Stay at 9
    
    
36. If you had a strong support network / emotional connections beyond your nuclear family while you were growing up, take one step forward. Stay at 9
    
    
37. If you can schedule daily activities of work, recreation, and personal hygiene without worrying about pain or fatigue, take a step forward. Forward to 10
    
    
38. If you were ever uncomfortable about a joke or a statement you overheard related to your some aspect of your identity, but felt unsafe to confront the situation, take one step back. Back to 9
    
    
39. If you feel confident that you would be physically or mentally able to work, with the right training, if hired, take one step forward Forward to 10

Final tally: 10/39 -- actually a tiny smidge ahead of where I ended up before.

What I'm wondering about now is how rephrasing statements to shift the balance between the steps forward and back would change the outcome (Taking a step back when you do worry about a dinner invitation, for example, rather than taking a step forward when you don't).

Comments

[sqbr]

An interesting take on it, I've been pondering this myself *ponders some more*

[capri0mni]

Thank you.

Yeah, it was surprising to me (Even though I composed the statements myself) the emotional impact of typing out the answers -- for example, when I typed "Stay at X" for an ability privilege I didn't have, I often wanted to type "Step back to" (especially the 'accept an invitation' one).

I wonder if the emotional impact of staying put would hurt as much if I was there when physical people stepped ahead of me.

And also, making it a physical exercise tends to put a cap on how many people can participate (just because you need a large space to do it in), which, in turn, would tend to narrow the focus of which privileges are explored. So I've been wondering if there's a way to enact it in miniature, with pegs and a pegboard, maybe.

*thinky-think*

[sqbr]

Honestly I am pretty uncomfortable with the idea of doing it in a group, it sounds really confronting for the less privileged people. As a meme it's less immediate and exposed. But YMMV!

[capri0mni]

Yeah. In one of the .PDFs for an alternate version of this exercise, the point is explicitly made:

"Do not do this in workshop before you do some heavy duty trust work, first. And then, proceed with caution. Because this could hurt people. Seriously."

And I was thinking about why I got a higher "Privilege Score" after putting greater emphasis on my pet oppression: It's because I saw growing up, how bad it could be for kids with disabilities, up close. I saw fellow kids with C.P. basically treated like S#!+ while I got treated like some precious little darling, just because I could speak clearly, and they couldn't (It's hard to describe the helpless feeling to be sitting next to one of you peers and have to watch as they get subjected to one microaggression after another, and be unable to do anything, 'cause you're just ten years old, and the aggressor is an adult with specialist training, doing what they're "Supposed" to). So I granted myself a whole host of privileges that the creators of the BuzzFeed version didn't even know existed.

[davidgillon]

I started trying to do the same thing after reading jesse_the_k's post on this, but quickly concluded I didn't like the format of having one step forward or back and staying still as the only options. I considered the possibility of having each question have options for 1 step forward, 1 step back, staying still, and, exceptionally, 2 steps back, because there are nuances in the answers to the questions in which a presumed negative might actually equate to privilege - for example, my Dad qualified as a Chartered Civil Engineer, clear privilege in gaining entry to one of the recognised 'professions', but he did it by going to night school, which in the original would be a negative. But I stalled on that approach when I realised that creating a three-option version of question 2 might inadvertently pressure someone to out themselves as a survivor of sexual assault. I think it's doable, but it will require very careful wording and more time than I had available.

[davidgillon]

Interesting point. I think even your amended version still misses many of the ways we are oppressed, which isn't pushing your score down as far as it should if it was to reflect our actual standing in society. I'd want to capture the threat of assault from random strangers, being subject to widespread perception as a benefit scrounger, facing active discrimination in recruitment and the workplace, being able to enter any business, and being able to travel without having to inform people of your minority group, and those are just the ones that spring immediately to mind.

[capri0mni]

I think even your amended version still misses many of the ways we are oppressed, which isn't pushing your score down as far as it should if it was to reflect our actual standing in society.

Perhaps that's fair. But I wanted to stay true to the original, as a sampling of privileges and their effects among a wide range of different types of privilege -- to get people to start thinking about facets of their life that they'd never considered before. I also wanted to keep the list at roughly the same length.

Samples are incomplete things that nonetheless represent the whole. They're not perfect, but they're a good starting point.

If I were to create an explanation of Abled Privilege exclusively (along the line of Peggy McIntosh's Invisible Backpack of White Privilege, I would go into more detail, and include all of the things you've mentioned, and likely a good deal more.

[capri0mni]

Yeah. Outing yourself in public over issues that, by their very nature make you vulnerable make this a very risky exercise.

I've been wondering if there's a way to do it as a sort of role-playing game, where your privileges are determined by a series of dice rolls. That way, the vulnerabilities you put on display may, or may not, be actually attached to you.

[sqbr]

I have nothing interesting to say in reply to this but you make some good points!

[capri0mni]

Thank you!