Academic Ableism in Higher Education

In this piece, we argue that universities and by extension all educational establishments need to address inequitable systems and pedagogic practices to ensure they promote inclusive opportunities, where achievement and success are available to all students and staff. Part of this process includes reflecting to ensure we do not replicate cultural and societal norms concerning disability.
‘Disability is one of the most frequently forgotten forms of social, political and cultural oppression’ (Christensen, 1996, p. 63)
Disability is a socially constructed term; it denotes a difference whereby specific groups are given unequal values. Sensoy & DiAngelo (2017) refer to this as a social stratifying strategy that societies adopt as norms; this creates oppression due to the way we organise specific groups of people. Our society is designed for/by, built for/by, and controlled for/by non-disabled individuals: this excludes disabled people (Swain et al. 2003). Consequently, people with disabilities have been unfairly and unjustly treated in our societies for centuries and there continues to be a lack of clarity on what is unjust (Rizvi & Christensen 1996).