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2. Social Status and Politics
Personality is important, but outside influences can be even more powerful. Our perceived place in society structures the particular world each of us finds ourselves in, and not only confronts us with different problems, but helps shape the personality traits and choices we face them with.
This is a complex thing to discuss, because disabled people are often viewed as a social category by itself, which in some important ways we are. “The Disabled” is increasingly recognized as an important, and in some ways stand-alone demographic and social category. But disability also intersects with other social identities and experiences. Race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, age, religion, political background, income and wealth, education, and social class all have a profound influence on how each disabled person understands their disabilities, responds to challenges, and expresses themselves in their daily interactions. For example:
A disabled person who is white, educated, and mostly financially secure will often view life with disabilities more positively than someone who is disabled who also has to contend with racism, sexism, homophobia, or constant worry about money and access to needed support services. Relative privilege and disadvantage affects which aspects of life with disabilities each of us is able to see and experience. It also affects our perception of what works and doesn’t work to achieve a successful, happy life. Some of us view the world as essentially friendly, with maybe a few disability-specific corrections to make and misunderstandings to iron out, while others through their experience see our society as more deeply flawed, with the deck stacked against us in ways that mere reform and “raising awareness” can’t fix.
Disabled people with more relative privilege may sometimes focus on different, more targeted disability issues like restaurant accessibility and proper use of accessible parking than disabled people who must fight for more fundamental, life and death, bread and butter issues like home care, health insurance, and basic financial survival. When our essentials are secure, the issues we face have more to do with social inclusion and our ability to enjoy all of society’s amenities. When food, shelter, personal care, and medical services are constantly at risk, those issues grab more of our attention, even if we also recognize the importance of less immediate disability issues.
Multiply marginalized disabled people also tend to be more aware of existential threats like police violence, punitive forms of behavioral control, and the dangers of sexual violence. Black disabled people have never been more acutely aware of how racism and ableism combine to put their lives at risk. And women with disabilities continue to be a higher risk from a combination of ableism and sexism, in the form of workplace discrimination, and sexual assault everywhere.
Meanwhile, different faiths, cultural norms, and political philosophies all have a huge influence on how each disabled person understands their disability experience. Disabled people with more traditional, conservative values and politics are likely to have a different view of issues like employment, government benefits, and the culture and practices of disability activism than a person with similar disabilities who is more secular, progressive, and invested in ambitious disability policies. While many of us have no choice but to rely on benefits like Social Security Disability and Medicaid or Medicare, our background world views and the cultures we are raised in give us very different feelings about those programs, either as a necessary evil to be avoided at all costs, or as a reasonable and useful entitlement to be embraced as fully as any income source or necessity of life. This in turn can affect our politics and voting habits. In fact, studies of the 2016 election show that despite all the unique issues disabled people face together, our politics are nearly as evenly divided and polarized as they are in society at large.
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