Psycho-social Disability bias is a virus
Image description: A meme of Sheldon Cooper from ‘Big Bang Theory’, holding his fingers up to his temples. The text of the meme reads ‘BITCHES BE CRAZY’.
"Wherever we see bias, we must stop bias." Christia Spears-Brown, Unraveling Bias, 2021
It has been my experience that, as a woman with psycho-social disabilities, people automatically question the validity of my narrative.
Even the most seasoned lawyers, academics, people working in criminology, people working in community based social justice organisations - they all give me that look. All of them start there.
Even those in disability advocacy, who should know better. In fact, some of them are the worst for this. They will believe a physically disabled woman, but not me. Not my peers.
I experience that look every single time I tell our story of systemic discrimination - when the system swallowed us for a time. What is that look? It’s not very complex. It’s doubt.
It is: this bitch is crazy.
Here is what they hear and see: that I'm brash, I swear, I'm confident in what I'm saying, I give a lot of detail, and sometimes I get upset. I use big words and talk for a long time. I get emotional. I have a lot of technical knowledge, and I info dump.
They'll talk about my admission, of course. People with authority love to clutch their pearls about my admission. Ah, that chestnut. Yep, I've spent two nights in a psychiatric hospital due to burnout and distress.
And? Is that all you've got? I sought appropriate, routine medical care? And then recovered, and worked hard every day to? Oh, so you're deploying stigma, I see. Stigma. Mmm.
See, stigma is only of utility to you if I am ashamed, and afraid, and shut up. None of which I will do. I'm not ashamed I took care of myself. I'm proud. Stigma is a social shaming tool, designed to exclude, shame, and silence. Except I am drowning in community, friends, and my network is strong. I am strong. So I tend to snort and keep going when this tactic is used. I also tend to “leak my own nudes” by talking openly about my mental health history. Because I’m just not ashamed of it. Hospital care is a normal, routine part of having a psychosocial disability for many people. A lot of my friends have also experienced admissions - more than one, gasp! - and to me there is no difference between this and routine physical care.
Yet often, hospital admissions are the weapon of choice when people want to convince others that this bitch is crazy. Mmm. This bitch had the equivalent of a bad flu, and she dealt with it. Next.
My twenties were colourful. I'm still colourful. I'm political. I'm a loud mouth. I'm an unabashed over sharer. I can never find my keys. I am a shit sleeper.
And I'm also telling the truth, and can back it. With evidence. With a paper trail as long as my best info dump about phyllodes and allelopathic plants.
There's always a period, when I tell our story, of people looking at me askance, and I know what they are thinking, because I've heard and seen it 5 billion times before: This bitch is crazy.
And you know what, that's fine. It’s a stage in the process. I have the patience now to take a deep breath and wait and show the evidence of what I'm saying.
Eventually, the other look. The moment when they see it too, figure it out, and realise: I wasn't lying, I wasn't making anything up. I'm not crazy. And then regret, and the realisation they've judged a book by its cover.
This is a huge problem. Many women do not have the capacity to persevere through the doubting phase of psychosocial disability bias, when they speak up about abuse and neglect. Many do not have the skills, supports and privilege needed to keep receipts the way I do. One of the reasons I've started the Australian Union of Neurodivergent Parents is to share those skills and that knowledge. This is how I share the privileges I have - such as being a skilled user of Australian English, having a university education, etc. Many women know the fabric around them well enough to not even try.
The Disability Royal Commission noted in their March 2022 Interim Report titled ‘Overview of responses to the Violence and abuse of people with disability at home Issues paper’:
“Women with Disabilities Victoria told us that women with disability who disclose experiences of violence are often discredited or ignored. NDS told us that current complaints systems rely on ‘articulate, assertive and empowered complainants’ and that more should be done to enable people with disability to report violence and abuse. Speak Out said that many people choose not to go through with reporting because they are not understood or believed, or because they face discrimination due to their disability.”
So, my challenge to you is this: next time you doubt a woman because of how she talks and sounds and looks and behaves, ask yourself what it is that makes you think she's lying. Just ask the question. And sit with it.
Allow the discomfort that you may be acting from bias. And this is the basis for my Masters thesis, really.
Psychosocial Disability is a virus. It isn't an infection. It isn't localised, it's endemic, and it spreads easily, quickly. Like COVID-19, it spreads efficiently, replicates itself well, and has severe, often fatal, consequences.
Every time you sit and reflect on your own thoughts or challenge others, you are washing it away. Thank you for doing that.
#disabilityjustice #disabilityroyalcommission #bitchesbenotcrazy #believewomen #feminism #psychosocialdisabilities
