Guardian Staff, The Guardian - February 23, 2015
I’m not that interested in this article specifically. I’m citing it only because it got me thinking about how disability issues and disability culture in the United Kingdom are different than they are in the United States. They’re different, but in subtle ways I haven’t quite mapped out yet.
- It seems like ableist slurs and personal harassment get more mainstream press in the UK than they do in the US.
- It also seems sometimes like disabled people in the UK fight more for benefits than they do for civil rights. If so, it’s probably because they are forced to, and I worry that we’ll soon have to do the same here in the US.
- I have also noticed that there is a lot less discussion in the UK over terminology. It seems like either they settled all those questions years ago, or else they just do care about it as much. Everyone seems to use “disabled” and “disability” and leave it at that.
I guess this is a comment thread. I’d like to know, from both British people and American observers, what’s different about disability in the UK?
