“I’m Not Ableist, But…” (dot-dot-dot)

Do you really understand disability issues? Do you REALLY???

Photo by Elevate on Unsplash

Although I’ve made no secret about my status as a person with a disability, don’t mistake that for me acting like a know-it-all. I’m constantly still learning about the needs of other members within my own community. But I can speak to my struggles as an autistic individual. I can look for greater problematic trends reflected by those experiences.

William Shakespeare coined the phrase, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” This saying pertains to people who are guilty of the exact transgression against which they’re denying any hypothetical guilt. Infamous examples of this include:

“I’m not racist, but…”

“I’m not sexist, but…”

“I’m not ageist, but…”

“I’m not homophobic, but…”

“I’m not a religious zealot, but…”

And then they proceed to follow that up with a comment — usually passive-aggressive in nature — that diminishes some aspect of another person’s racial, sexual, generational, spiritual, or gendered life.

The ellipses (that trademark “dot-dot-dot”) symbolize an unspoken rant which the speaker often knows better than to actually utter out loud. When they substitute…