Essentially it’s fruit of the same tree. They’re still using ableism and applying it to trans people. Anyone who defies “normalcy” is considered disabled by their society whether they have a disability or not. - ThreadSky

imanibarbarin.bsky.social • 25 days ago

Essentially it’s fruit of the same tree. They’re still using ableism and applying it to trans people. Anyone who defies “normalcy” is considered disabled by their society whether they have a disability or not.

Reposted from stone top steve austin

hi Imani! do you have an explanation for why trans people have become *the* scapegoat for this administration rather than e.g. disabled people? (since eugenics/fascism rise during a pandemic, I thought more backlash would be against disabled people/those who the RW think "make the nation weak")

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aliengeometries.itch.io•25 days ago

A lot of transphobic rhetoric relies nakedly ON ableism. Framing us as mentally ill/delusional, fearmongering about our medical procedures, playing up the overlap between trans + autistic ppl to "prove" we're illegitimate, etc. Conversion therapy is ABA with a pride flag.

aliengeometries.itch.io•25 days ago

I have written about this on Bsky before but you don't talk about the mentally ill the way transphobes do unless you also fucking loathe the mentally ill

derekmalaney.bsky.social•24 days ago

So whatever makes the body "unfit" or "inaccessible" or "undesirable" for forced labor under the ableist-white supremacist-capitalist state is defined as disability.

I can see how this would apply to children, who are treated as property until they've "earned"/grown into personhood

readymaderacoon.bsky.social•24 days ago

It's like Drapetomania from back in the day. The powers that be can just glue "medical issues" onto defiance of the norm and crush people with forced medicalization. Ableism can come for anyone at any time

facedowntoast.bsky.social•25 days ago

I personally consider my transness to be part of my disability identity partially because of this. They’re just so intertwined for me that it doesn’t make sense to me to separate them but I totally get that it’s an unpopular opinion

ma-at.bsky.social•25 days ago

The playbook of labeling anything outside the dominant social group mental illness has been used to do so many bad things. Being gay left the DSM in my lifetime. Questioning authority and authority figures is still in it. We used to lock away, shock, and lobotomize those who didn’t fit socially

alocolbeck.bsky.social•25 days ago

I also think trans people are seen as more “other” than disabled people - anyone can become disabled and people can identify more with that demographic. Also they’ve been able to pull kids into it and lie about trans kids and social transitions.

fridalamaldita.bsky.social•25 days ago

“Anyone who defies 'normalcy' is considered disabled by their society whether they have a disability or not” just shifted my entire worldview. I genuinely didn’t understand this before.

derekmalaney.bsky.social•24 days ago

I had that feeling too when I first started listening to Imani on Tik tok. Now I see it everywhere: T. Hersey talks about the body being the only thing we really own, & so is the thing that white supremacist/capitalist etc. try to convince us that we have to lease from them through forced labor.

derekmalaney.bsky.social•24 days ago

And this is where Imani completes the circle for me - namely that the bodies which defy their forced labor, they declare to be undesirable, disabled, unworthy.

derekmalaney.bsky.social•24 days ago

Sorry and meant add that "disabled" in these cases are applied to all bodies whether disabled or not BECAUSE the state declares your body disabled in relation to the state; whereas people with disabilities use the word as they see fit to describe their relationship with their body

derekmalaney.bsky.social•24 days ago

And here I see the intersection with Trans- people being the people who get to declare their relationship with their bodies, and the state doesn't get to decide. It's revolutionary in its defiance

pluplubasch.bsky.social•24 days ago

This essay will really drive it home! https://courses.washington.edu/intro2ds/Readings/Baynton.pdf

fridalamaldita.bsky.social•24 days ago

Thank you for the link! I will read this immediately.

blahpers.bsky.social•24 days ago

Trans? Disabled

Gay? Disabled

Not white? Disabled, if they even think of you as human at all

rntropy.bsky.social•23 days ago

The abelism at the core of MAGA really comes through in Trump's fixation with "asylums" (foreign and domestic) and "lunatics" (e.g. Hannibal Lecter) and his desire to reinstitute mass institutionalization as a solution to homelessness

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