The Human Condition: Ableism
By DR. DANIEL SCHNEE on March 1, 2023.
Every so often I come across a story in the news that I am both surprised and unsurprised by. Considering everything I have seen in my travels it is a rare occurrence, but once again I find myself in this situation. Recently Youtube megastar Jimmy Donaldson (aka “Mr. Beast”) took it upon himself to “cure” 1,000 people of their blindness, in other words pay for their unaffordable cataract surgeries. Young or old, Donaldson helped them regain their sight, and realize their dreams: seeing their loved ones’ faces again, learning to drive, gaining the use of previously unused eyes, and so on. And, in his usual fashion, he all made it entertaining: giving away thousands of dollars, and even buying a car for a young patient. But in this day and age, of course some had to complain about it, accusing Donaldson of being an “ableist” who exploited the blind to increase his viewership and personal wealth. Of course, free speech allows for people to say whatever they want about Donaldson (short of slander or hate). But this argument does not hold up. That is because ableism is the idea that anyone who is not like a “normal” person is bad, or inferior. For example, we might assume that, when given the choice between allowing an average blue collar worker or someone in a wheelchair to emigrate from England, it’s ultimately “better” to choose the worker. But ableist bias becomes apparent when the wheelchair bound immigrant is revealed to be a world-renowned computer scientist, someone who only now has value with hindsight. The contrast may not always be that extreme, but the reasoning is as such: the person with a disability is pitiable, and presumably of lesser value. This stereotyping of a whole person by one aspect of their body or mind also includes insinuations of morality, of personal character. Thus, according to certain critics, Donaldson ridding blind people of their cataracts implies he is demonstrating a kind of able-bodied ‘superiority complex’ over them, pitying their lack of normalcy as not being ‘good enough.’ Does ableism exist? Absolutely. As a Bipolar person I experience it regularly. Is Donaldson an ableist? Absolutely not. At no time in the video does he opine about human worth, instead focusing solely on providing relief and joy – in his usual chipper fashion – to a thousand blind people around the world. Also, many of these individuals are elderly, and not in the career phase of their lives. Thus if Donaldson is ableist, then he did a bad job of it by not exclusively assisting young people who would have greater utilitarian value over time. Donaldson’s detractors also suggest there is “nothing wrong” with being blind from cataracts. It is true that one lacks no essential human dignity with a disability. But to pretend that the reverse is true – that being given sight is an affront to “dignity” of disability – is irrational. Plus, it implies that there is a negative correlation: that blindness thus has a dignity sightedness lacks (implying eyeglasses for example are an ableist affront to the near-sighted, not a benefit). But if, after all is said and done, freeing people from the bonds of disability is ableism, then Mr. Beast is an ableist. Thank God for that… Dr. Daniel Schnee is an anthropologist and jazz/rock drummer 10-9
