The euphemism Special Needs, after many years of service, has filed for retirement. Nondisabled people receive countless supports, so why should supports for disabled people get treated as something extra? The only difference between accommodations for nondisabled and disabled people is ableism. That’s why the overworked Special Needs decided the time had come to move on.
The video is an excerpt from my remarks at the White House Disability Pride Month Convening.
Descriptive Transcript
Haben Girma speaks on stage, sitting with a Braille computer on her lap. Also sitting on stage are, from left to right, Gene Sperling, Mychal Threets, and Eric Harris. The camera also shows a lively, diverse group in the audience, including people with wheelchairs.
Haben: The biggest challenge, in schools, medical centers, workplaces, is ableism. Ableism is the system of belief that treats disabled people as inferior to nondisabled people. When I arrived in college, I discovered the menus in the cafeteria were only in print. I couldn’t read it not because of blindness, but because of the format of the menu. The idea of disabled people going to university still surprises some people who work at schools. And that’s a classic example of ableism: we need to plan for disabled students. I went to the manager and I told him, “The format of the menu doesn’t work. But if you provide it in Braille or post it online or email it to me, I have tech that allows me to read emails and websites that are accessible.” The manager said, “We’re very busy. We don’t have time to do special things for students with special needs.” Just to be clear, eating is not a special need.
(Laughter)
Haben: There’s this myth that nondisabled people don’t need help, but nondisabled people need lots of accommodations. The cafeteria was full of chairs, hundreds of chairs. Those are accommodations for nondisabled students. Students with wheelchairs roll in with their own chairs. So the school was spending money on accommodations for nondisabled students.
(Laughter and applause)
Haben: And along the ceiling, there were lights. Those are accommodations for sighted students.
(Laughter)
Haben: Blind students didn’t need the lights. In fact, the school would have saved so much money if they turned off the lights.
(Laughter)
Haben: The difference between accommodations for disabled people and nondisabled people is ableism. And if we learned to notice ableism, we can remove it from our schools. But back then, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know how to advocate, so I was stuck not having access to the menu. I told myself, don’t complain. There are worse things in the world. It’s just menus. And the barrier followed me day after day. One day I did research and I learned about ada.gov. I learned about the Americans with Disabilities Act and I realized, we have rights. The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities, including students. And I went back to the manager and I told him, “if you don’t provide access to the menu, I’m going to take legal action.”
(Applause and cheering)
Haben: I had no idea how to do that.
(Laughter)
Haben: I was 19, I couldn’t afford a lawyer. Now I know there are nonprofit legal centers like DRC, where Eric works. Within the government, there’s the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Civil Rights, where we can send in complaints. There’s the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. So we have all these resources, but I didn’t know about them. All I knew was I had to try. I had to do something. The next day, the manager apologized. He was scared of getting sued.
(Laughter)
Haben: And the culture changed at the cafeteria. Instead of thinking of it as something extra and charity, they realized they must provide accessibility. The ADA helps us fight ableism and I hope more people learn about the resources: our laws, the agencies that can help us to fight ableism and discrimination. Thank you.
(Applause)