Disability privilege

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Interesting thread, so to the op and readers, an inquiring mind wants to know: Do you think it's fair or not fair that disabled people receive these special privileges, or does the word "fair" not apply, and, if so, why?

Fair in the fact that it can do something towards leveling the playing field. Honestly though, I'd do away with the idea of privilege and call instead for universal access. As in everyone having equal access to services they need to navigate the world. Typically, things done to make the world more disability friendly make the world more friendly for everyone.

Well I feel I will still have spending money for not being forced to buy a $100 dollar monthly pass because I hate it when businesses try to f**k with my budget by raising their prices and that pisses me off and gives me panic and stress because of change in my budget. Then I have to worry about when they keep raising the prices, my money I make doesn't keep up with the inflation and then I have no money left for myself. Now they are offering low income passes now and they didn't have this program when I got Honored Citizen.

Healthcare is expensive and the US and only way to get it for "free" is to be employed full time but depending on where you work. So I would rather get Medicare and get Healthy Kids for my children and not worry about medical bills and failing to take my kids to their well child check ups or not taking them to ER if they get hurt because of fear of a high medical bill.

Take whatever you qualify for to beat this corrupt system. f**k what others think, they're just jealous. Hey you make more than I do, you can afford more, I make a lot less and would never be able to climb up the ladder due to my disability. f**k conservatives too that think we're moochers and want to get rid of these programs.

I mean, you can call it privilege if you like, but it wasn't like I was getting time and a half for no reason either. My short quip glosses over several years of me practicing test taking on the weekends to the point where I was able to complete a test closer to the time given by my instructors. I had to learn how to parse apart what my teachers really meant when they wrote something vs. what it seemed like to me. My short quip also does not show that throughout grad school I struggled to complete exams in the time given. Even given that though, I was usually the top of my class grade-wise. I just had to work hard to get past the 90% completion point, then I'd usually be okay.

So no, I do not have the privilege of being efficient at test-taking. I just decided to give the prof a hard-check on his fantasy that my ability is purely because of my accommodations. I realize not everyone is able to do this. I realize not everyone can just learn to be faster on tests, no matter how hard they try. I am lucky that it did help me eventually (after >5 years at it up until that point). If you'd like to argue that this much is a privilege, sure. I guess I can't argue. But I'd like to say that it was a hard earned one thank you much. Just calling what I did a "privilege" makes it sound like I was just good at it from the start. Not so.

No, a privilege is "a circumstance that puts one in a favorable or superior position". A disability puts one in a disadvantaged position. Those accommodations put one in an equitable position to have access to education and employment. So, yes, it is fair.

Every disabled person I know would trade any and every accommodation they have to not have the disability that requires it in the first place.

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What you wrote does not exactly answer my question, " Do you think it's fair or not fair that disabled people receive these special privileges, or does the word "fair" not apply, and, if so, why?," but it does kind of hit the nail on the head in that the implication to me,at least-- the way I interpret it is that you do not give a flying F* if it is fair or not. That is an honest which I very much appreciate, as it does shine light on the actual situation of human inequity, which is probably largely a result of how various people feel about it, and from the honest perspective of how various people feel about things, we probably have a better chance of helping the largest amount of people have a better life, but if people mask their feelings, which word, "mask" I sure have heard a lot of on this forum after coming back and really do abhore (abhore ha ha--bet some people abhore the word abhore:-)

I am interested in the implied meaning of the word "fair" For instance, rich people, generally speaking, feel a lot differently than poor people about many things, one of the main things being about what is and is not fair, so the meaning of this word is contextual. This said, the meaning of any word is contextual, but when we get into the area of goods or services given by (or taken from) one group of people to give to another group of people, it is more complex, and all kinds of subjective bias and rightful objection can play into it. But again, this hearkins back back to the definition of the word fair, as "rightful" sounds to me like another aspect of that.

Last edited by littlebee on 13 Mar 2019, 6:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm working with multiple job coaches right now to try and find part-time work that I can do, and which will earn under the cutoff so as to not affect my benefits. I'm a little sad though, because my intellect is higher than average (significantly higher in some areas) and I'd love to have a high-ranking prestigious job somewhere in the psychology field, but my executive functioning and emotional regulation skills are so weak that I can't succeed at even low-level entry positions without support. I'm looking at jobs involving shelving books at libraries or feeding animals in animal shelters right now, and I just know I could do so much more if my functional ability didn't get in the way of my intelligence so much.

Work-arounds for executive function problems exist, and emotional-regulation improves with practice. I am learning, practicing and building strength in those areas in therapy now. Its been a slow process, but I am learning.

If I were rich, I wouldn't care if people were getting a handout. I would be glad what I can afford and what I can do with my income while those people wouldn't be able to do the same thing I could do because they wouldn't be able to afford it. Now those would be privileges you are doing. Going to movies, eating out, traveling over seas, owning a expensive house or driving a fancy car, now those are privileges. Same as if you can afford premium healthcare and can afford to hire people to tend to your yard and keep your house maintained.

Normally, people who have never been poor have no idea what it's like and they see it as a choice and many of them did start out as poor but worked their way up so they expect everyone else can too. So therefore they are going to be lacking empathy for those who are low income and disabled people who were able to compensate and go to college and actually have a career would also not understand and think anyone can make it if they try hard.

And they say autistic people lack TOM but I see lot of people lack TOM in general which is why so many people lack empathy.

People who have privilege are unaware of their own privileges. I believe there is also rich privilege and class privilege.

Many people misunderstand what privilege is. It just means you have benefits, it doesn't mean you don't have any problems and never struggled in life. There is white privilege, male privilege, female privilege, senior privilege, cisgender privilege, straight privilege, etc.

Many are confused because they think privilage is autimatically bestowed on you based on the group your are born into. Lack of being discriminated against is confused with being privilaged. Being white does not automatically bestow privilages to you. Being black means it is likely you will be descriminated against multiple times in several ways. Not bieng disadvantaged or descriminated against does not automatically confer privilage/unfair benefits to you.

Privilege despite the recent successful attempts to change the definition is not a group thing but an individual thing. If you are born rich you usually get benefits you did not earn. It is a privilege to know a great person. The change of privilage definition to add group privileges has been done to guilt trip people and to discount arguments from groups deemed privilaged. Intersectionality ideology has been divisive and has shed more heat then light.

As for benefits for the disabled it is the humane thing to do to help people disadvantaged by thier individual disability. Fair or unfair depends on the individuals recieving the benefits and who is forced to pay for them and how much.

I'm not privileged, just spoiled

The only accommodation I get that I know of is handicap parking. But I don't like using it.

Now I am confused because I keep hearing about these privileges things and then I realized everyone is privileged in their own way. Like I take using restrooms for granted. I had no idea that it was hard for transgender people and that they get harassed using one and if they pass, they get that privilege now to use one with granted. If they were able to transition or were fortunate to have a youthful look, they can transition easier into a man and their dysphoria won't be as bad, that is privileged. If you are an autistic person and were able to get diagnosed as a child, you had that privilege because your parents had the money to get you to a doctor, to get you tested while other parents with less income have to rely on schools and social workers and if they can't get a correct diagnoses, they can only stick with what they have. I also think there is good parents privilege because not everyone has parents they can go to for support and not everyone had parents who loved them.

Just google privilege like white privilege and thin privilege and so on. Then pretty soon you start making your own up like I am doing now.

privilage definition inflation
Just being able to drive without being arrested because of your race is not a privilage, it is how it is supposed to be. If you get extra benefits most do not get because your parents used their wealth for you you are privilaged, but that has nothing to do with your neurology, race, sex etc, that is an individual circumstance.

And this is where feminists would call it a privilege. This is an example of white privilege. You can drive without being pulled over for no reason unless you were doing something you were not supposed to or because you had stolen that car or because you didn't have a valid license plate.

Whatever disability advantages there are you are still in a massive net loss when it comes to being disabled, you certainly don't come out ahead.

Why don't you like using it? Do you drive?