To think self-identifying as disabled or as black/Asian is offensive?

[HoundsOfHove]

Applying for a job. It says this in the wording -
"We particularly encourage applications from those who self-identify as black, Asian, minority ethnic, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/ or disabled."

No problem with that obviously, but why not say people who are the above?

Otherwise couldn't I self-identify as disabled? And that's wrong, because I'm not. And hugely offensive to people who aren't able-bodied! And if I self-identify then they just have to take my word for it? Or is it just the new way of phrasing things?

I've heard this term a lot but can find no register of disabled people. [ shudders ]

There never will be one, I hope!

Sorry Blank. I meant to add, a register is one of those labelling things. Despicable.

As an intermittently disabled person I don't want that label. I assume that as I get older that may change and I will try and access all the support I will be entitled to. So while I think there desperately needs to be an easily accessed list of all the support anyone with any disability can gain access to, a list of disabled individuals is not something that should ever happen, anywhere!

There were local authority registers in the 1970s I believe, though they wouldn't have been complete. In the 90s there were still requirements that LAs add blind and deaf people to registers on request but my LA had no clue how. But ignorant jobsworths who don't want to do anything to assist disabled people or anyone else will still talk about registered disabled, a bit like 'no DSS' long after the demise of the Dept of Social Security.

It's slightly clunky wording but it does the job in making disabled people and BME people consider applying when they might have been reluctant otherwise, which is the point. And accepting what employees say unless there is good reason not to is part of good management - whether it's letting me have a fixed desk and a high locker without waiting for OH assessments, or letting someone have compassionate leave without insisting on seeing the death certificate first.

Sorry Blank. I meant to add, a register is one of those labelling things. Despicable.

My parents told me as a child that they 'could have had me registered disabled' but chose not to as it'd mean that I'd have a 'label' and never get a job or accomplish anything because I'd be that disabled person.

Hardly surprising that in my teenage years I tried to deny that there was anything different about me and made my health much worse as a result. I didn't know until today that there's no 'register' so they were talking rubbish anyway, but I think it says far more about their opinions of disabled people than it does about anything else.

I really struggled for a while and was surprised how supportive and accommodating those that I've disclosed my medical conditions to have been when I finally did it. But I still feel guilty about asking for adjustments because I'm 'not disabled'

I'm not saying that you as an individual should feel you have to label yourself as anything. Just that for some people, it helps.

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Ethyl I suspect Childer is sorry you are 'butthurt' about that and will 'scarlet' you!

I'd just see the sardony and move on!

No, childer thinks Ethyl is kinda racist and rather dim.

Sardony is not a word, btw.

Sardony is not a word, btw. I didn't think butthurt was either... nor what was meant by scarlet.

Every day is a learning day!

That and maybe I should have left it as irony!

I realise the reason some many posters find the word self-ID problematic is because of its application in gender politics, but disability is not anything like trans, and it's offensive and ignorant for people to act like they are the same. You can't compare the two. I'm sorry, but you simply can't, and certainly not based on a knee-jerk "self-ID is bad when trans people use it so it's automatically bad even in a completely different context" way.

100% this, Very well said.

For those that don't agree with self IDing as disabled, how do we determine who meets the criteria? The definition under the Equality Act is not strictly a medical one, it goes far beyond diagnosis or treatment. No specialist is with a person sufficiently to determine the affect their condition has on day to day activities, they have to rely on the person's description of their limitations - self identifying. Added to which, medical professionals do not have the legal training to understand the nuances behind the definition, so any determination could be flawed.

Where occupational health make assessments they usually use careful wording, "in their opinion", "based on the information given by the patient" - they will not make an absolute determination on whether a person meets the definition or not.

As a disabled person I have no issue with others self identifying as disabled. Like @karyatide I have worked in this area, and I have published research on disability and employment, and I have not yet come across a non disabled person trying to abuse the right to reasonable adjustments or the Guaranteed Interviews Scheme that some employers offer.

There’s a lot of interesting writing, especially about ‘passing’ that you could look Up if this topic actually interested you.

Since there are some posters who sound genuinely interested here are some useful sources re: 'passing', 'colourism', the experience of being 'mixed race', including two recent UK-based books:

Akala Natives: race and class in the ruins of Empire

Afua Hirsch Brit(ish): on race, identity and belonging

Allyson Hobbs A Chosen Exile: a history of racial passing in American Life

General reading: medium.com/@alexlaughs/mixed-race-identity-a-reading-list-59b35051b67b

Cheers, Dottie! Will go look them up.

The thing is, many conditions do not make all sufferers disabled, or they may make you disabled for part of your life and not the rest, or for parts of your time but not all the time. There may be reasons you don't want to claim disability allowance, but may still need to ask for adjustments at school, HE or work.

Dd and I have the same condition. I have never identified as disabled because in my line of work there is no need. I can always manage by just doing things a bit different and nobody is put in danger by not knowing about my condition.

Dd otoh absolutely needs her school of physical theatre to know that she has a disability: it would be both dishonest and dangerous not to. But she does not need, or want, PIP. And as she doesn't drive and currently has no problems with using public transport, she doesn't need or want a blue badge.

When she was at school, she was far more disabled than now. She regularly needed a wheelchair. But we did not apply for PIP, because her needs were very changeable and we did not want her to feel that there was an expectation on her to be consistently disabled. We wanted her to do as much as she could without worrying about what people might think. But at the same time to be able to use the disabled toilet at school.

I am physically disabled, but haven't always been. My condition is progressive. There became a point where I needed to start describing myself as disabled. Which was really hard, to just one day decide that today is the day. Is I'm disabled but yesterday I wasn't. The reality was that I had been disabled for quite some time, but I didn't identify as disabled. It didn't feel like I was suffering enough yet and I was trying to be brave.

I'm also dyslexic but have never considered myself as having SEN or a learning disability. Simply because it was not impacting on my ability to be successful.

I began identifying as disabled in 2010. I'd had problems a lot longer, my whole life really, but wasn't diagnosed with anything until 1999, then diagnosed properly in 2004. My parents are of the "everyone is different, just suck it up" viewpoint and have always pushed me.

When I started self identifying as disabled my DF recognised the importance of the label to help me. DM was resistant, seeing it as a signal I was "giving up". It was in using the social model of disability to explain to her why it was society that disables me and not my own choosing that turned her into one of my biggest advocates and more understanding of invisible disabilities. We still have a way to go with MH, but we're getting there.

DS is on the spectrum and says he doesn't really consider himself disabled although the DWP does. He also hates that ASD is seen as an issue, not a personality difference and he hates the stigma attached to it. He's 11, so I'm teaching him in the same way, that it's society not accommodating him that's the problem, in age appropriate bites he can understand. I've formally studied some of the many models of health, illness and disability so it's kind of fun to go back to it and explain it to others.

For me, self identifying as disabled was one of the most freeing things ice ever done. I feel stronger for being open about it and no longer feel ashamed that I can't always keep up with others.