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Home » Critical Disability Studies: Theory and Practice » Critical Disability Studies: Theory and Practice 2016 » Communicating Culture: What Neuroscientists Need to Know about the Neurodiversity Movement » Racism and Ableism

Racism and Ableism

By jhernan3
March 14, 2017 - 15:38
jhernan3's picture

Any thoughts on the recent incident with the French reporter Julie Graziani who received a lot of backlash online, especially Twitter, after making a comparison between people with Down Syndrome and Black people? A lot of the backlash, I believe, is similar to what we read in the Disability History of the US, where different groups of people say, "we aren't disabled, give us rights". 

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Kristin's picture

Submitted by Kristin on March 16, 2017 - 01:43

Super interesting. I don't think I've heard anyone use the term "racisme chromosomique" (chromosomal racism) before, making a parallel between discrimination on the basis of race and on the basis of an extra chromosome. The articles I've seen are in French, so for those who don't read French: Graziani is arguing against the termination of a pregnancy on the basis of a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome; in doing so, she links eugenics and racism. I'm not on Twitter, so I haven't seen the backlash there, but I gather that people are doubling down on disability discrimination by saying "we're not disabled"? If you see an article that describes the backlash, post it here!