Disability/Ableism in Communities & Villages

i have never lived in an intentional community before, but i have lived, and i invite my fellow disabled folk, esp. queer, Black, Indigenous disabled folk, who have lived in communities/villages before to answer these questions; which community did you and/or do you live in? did you and/or do you feel safe/respected? for wheelchair users, was the physical organization/layout and architecture accessible? for neurodivergent folk, did you find that your way of thinking/feeling was valued?

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When I have more time to elaborate I would love to discuss this because I’m openly gay disabled and on the Spectrum and have recently endured a lot of trauma as a result of communities who claim to be affirming and accommodating

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if some things are private and/or you aren’t up for calling anyone out, you can also message me.

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ableism is definitely widespread in the ic movement, which is one of the downsides to it right now unfortunately. I have personally faced that as a disabled person struggling with houselessness. I was always pushed back in the queue because I couldn’t offer as much labor… which is ultimately why I opted to create my own, which instead uses a leftist model that doesn’t measure someone’s value by their production. Sometimes we have to make solutions so our future generations don’t suffer as we do. :frowning:

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that sounds entirely ridiculous but it’s also tragically familiar. have you ever thought of leading a discussion about this on your Discord? i’d attend

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Yes let’s! Put it in the discord chat and I will

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Thank you for raising this important & neglected topic. I am currently disabled by a chronic illness. I have a young adult son who has down syndrome. I have observed ableism from many individuals & communities who claimed to “embrace diversity.” It’s long passed time to change our collective consciousness around ubiquitous & pervasive ableism.

I am currently in the design phase of building a small accessable community on my land in Vermont. I welcome any & all input.

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I would love to hear more about your member’s vision for your new community.

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I think that with society in general people go with “the good of the many outweighs the good of the few”, which usually means those of us with disabilities are out of luck. While I can see why such a philosophy is appealing for many/most folks, and they feel like they’re right, its hard to be the odd one out who doesn’t benefit from things, because I’m not the many. Intentional communities aren’t as different from society as we might like to think, so I ask myself can I really have higher standards for them than I do for other people and things?

I try to balance my desire to have things that work for me, with my attempt to understand the everyperson who does fine the way things are for certain things. I don’t want to be bitter or cruel because of my adversity, but I also want to encourage more flexability among the masses and show them that they can be more inclusive and it won’t disadvantage them as much as they might think.

I haven’t lived in community yet, but I’d like to someday.

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thank you very much for this reply.

I have toured a few communities since writing in here, so have more of an understanding of some of these things. The first community I toured was somewhat accessible, the second was less so. The third community could bmostly be, with a few ramps. I felt pretty safe when I visited these communities, I felt respected. However my friends who went with me to the first 2 tours, who have lower vision than I do, didn’t feel good at the first tour.

Just reporting my findings thus far in my process.

Thank you for bringing attention to this.

I don’t currently have IC experience, and this is one of the areas I am aware of as I research and try to figure out where I might fit in the IC community.

Especially in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and how reduced mitigation measures disproportionately impact disabled and immunocompromised folks, I have an interest in creating an IC specifically focused on disability justice principles.