The Influences Of Ableism in Veganism: A Disabled Vegan Perspective | Vegan Feminist Network
Many years ago, I wrote an article entitled Is Veganism Ableist? A Disabled Vegan Perspective. And in regard to the ideas of veganism, the answer remains no.
However, I do think in the wanting and sometimes desperation to do all we can to save the animals (and to a certain degree, the planet as animal agriculture is one of the larger contributors to climate change), a lot of us took action to dispel the protein myth, and while in ways it was good, some of our actions had consequences that also caused harm.
It is a reminder that when we take action to fight misinformation, we must make sure that we are also not punching down in the process (whether intentionally or not.) This is something that goes far beyond veganism.
In the end, us vegans from marginalized communities must represent with as much realness as possible, not only so people know that vegans vary, but so other marginalized people who are perhaps ‘vegan-curious’, will know that they too are welcomed in the movement. After all, the animals need as many allies as they can get.
I can definitely see some vegans up in the faces of those in wheel chairs and telling them they’re “not doing enough by following the philosophy, they must also be an activist for hours everyday or they don’t care about the animals and they’re just as bad as meat eaters” or “that their contributions don’t matter like theirs.”
I'm sure that's happened. Some can be monomaniacal, especially those where veganism is their only branch into liberatory politics.
Here though she's more talking about the pressure to minimize chronic illness and downplay disability due to not wanting to play into the "vegans are weak" myth (aka the protein myth). I've done this myself and still catch myself doing so occasionally. Part of it is self-imposed as she admits, but the expectations can be read between the lines of some mainstream messaging.