5 TPC Digest 5 TPC Digest Melissa D. Deroche, Lee Za Ong, Jennifer M. Cook Ableist Microaggressions, Disability Characteristics, and Nondominant Identities T he United States has an extensive history of treating people with disabilities (PWD) as outcasts and as less worthy than people who do not have disabilities. Although great strides have been made since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was instituted in 1990, PWD continue to report experiences of ableism on a regular basis. Microaggressions represent one form of ableism and are characterized as commonplace overt and covert forms of prejudice and discrimination that convey disparaging messages to individuals who hold marginalized identities, including PWD. Microaggressions can be expressed as insults, assaults, and/or invalidations. Though PWD are known to experience microaggressions, little is known about ableist microaggressions within this culturally diverse community. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to examine the lifetime occurrence and types of ableist microaggressions experienced by PWD, whether differences exist based on type of disability and visibility of disability, and if additional marginalized identities impact PWD’s experiences with ableist microaggressions. In our study, ableist microaggressions included messages that communicated perceived helplessness of PWD by others; minimization of a PWD’s disability; otherization based on requests for accommodations or assumption of additional impairments; and denial of personhood, which results in a focus on one’s disability and denial of other identities. Our results revealed that PWD have a moderate level of lifetime occurrences of ableist microaggressions, that there are differences between the lifetime occurrences and types of ableist microaggressions PWD experience depending on whether they have visible or non-apparent disabilities, and that PWD with additional marginalized identities may experience more minimization-type ableist microaggressions. The results provide valuable information for practicing counselors, students, counselor educators, and supervisors, so they can work affirmatively with PWD while not perpetrating common ableist microaggressions. Melissa D. Deroche, PhD, NCC, ACS, LPC-S, is an assistant professor at Tarleton State University. Lee Za Ong, PhD, LPC, CRC, is an assistant professor at Marquette University. Jennifer M. Cook, PhD, NCC, ACS, LPC, is an associate professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Correspondence may be addressed to Melissa D. Deroche, Tarleton State University, Department of Counseling, 10850 Texan Rider Dr., Ft. Worth, TX 76036, mderoche@tarleton.edu.
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