capri0mni | (Reply)

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And disability is so stigmatized that when someone who is disabled also encounters racism/sexism/homophobia, observers dismiss the part disability plays.

Virginia is progressive enough to be one of the 14 states with a Hate Crimes law. However, the way the law is written, only specifically named demographic categories are covered, and Disability is not on that list. I remember reading, when it came up in the news last year (but I'm too disheartened to search too deeply for it now), that the judge in the case of the black, mentally disabled, football player, anally raped by his white teammate was not a hate crime -- because the victim was disabled, it was merely a crime of opportunity.

The "Oh, well, what do you expect?" attitude.

*sigh*

Re: your last point, it's worth mentioning somewhere but maybe not here, the ableism that permeates "impairment cultures." That is, blind/deaf people who dismiss those who patronize by saying, "I'm strong as a bull!" Or wheelchair users who complain that people talk to them "as if they were stupid."

Indeed.

This is, as they say, the "Disability Hierarchy." But it's more like a fractal than a ladder or a pyramid.