10 Things You Should Never Say to a Disabled Person

I came across an article this morning that is very salient in light of this past week’s discussions on disability.  Like Deanna L. Fassett, I too take for granted my ability in allowing every daily action to happen without simple awareness of the fact I can do it passing through my mind. She goes on to advise readers that in order to better understand intercultural encounters, one should be more aware and more understanding of what life is like for someone different. Once you can empathize, then one should “feel outraged at how people with disabilities get treated (Fassett, 2010).”  We can only feel outraged once we are aware. As able bodies, we often do the wrong thing in interactions with those who are physically or mentally different than ourselves. The reading, Disability, embodiment and ableism: stories of resistance, addresses this with the section on the non-disabled gaze. It states, “pity shapes intercorporeal emotions in abled-disabled encounters (E. Loja et al., 2012).” Within this same section, the authors address the “consequences of unconscious assumptions and reactions of well-meaning people in ordinary interactions (E. Loja et al., 2012).” When reading this article, 10 Things You Should Never Say to a Disabled Person, is it the unconscious assumption of well-meaning people that cause these instances to occur? It is ignorance? Or is it malice? Why is it that abled bodies point out disabilities or feel pity for those who are disabled?