Disabled people more prone to homophobia?

Blame the parents, not the kids. May not even be the parents. It might be society telling them what is wrong, and they just accept it.

 

Good question - firstly are you referring to students with a physical disability or a learning/developmental/intellectual disability?

I can see that with the second category, some teachers may think these students were at a disadvantage to develop a more "current" view on diversity than what they were perhaps exposed at home in some cases? In a similar way we often give elderly people with cognitive impairments (dementia/alzheimer's) a free pass on comments of a racist nature? If the students are never challenged by the teachers they don't learn that it's not cool. So I'm not sure if' they're not more prone to it, but maybe society/educational system doesn't see "diversity sensitivity" as a priority in their education, because they are having difficulty with many other "more important" things? Not saying it's right by any means, just a possible explanation as to why it could have happened...

 

Ableism

 

Exactly! This is not a right thing to have on a support forum. It would be just as wrong to ask if black people are "more prone to homophobia." I don't think the OP meant any harm, but I still stand by what I said.

 

Yep - The parallel you drew is spot on. As someone who has an LD, I certainly don't agree with the OP's conclusions.

 

Precisely. It's the same as when (usually white, homophobic males) people say that black communities are more homophobic, despite suburban white men being the most homophobic demographic. It's just another (sub)conscious way of demonising black people, and it applies to people with disabilities in this case, too.

Most disabled people I've met tend to have a more open mind; either being unable to comprehend the purpose of perpetuating inequalities (disabled people aren't anywhere near the top of the "pecking order" anyway, so that's another disincentive), or, continuing from the point in brackets, are just good people who recongise that it's all a joint fight of people of all genders, races, classes, sexes, sexualities, and abilities against institutional oppression that benefits only a handful.

 

It's not like cis gay white men don't do the same thing, but other than that I agree with you.

 

It's ironic that the very same teachers who were probably defending and advocating on behalf of their students "for being different" in some ways didn't see it as an issue.

 

Oh, I agree. I should have pointed that out. We (cis gay white men) like to pretend we're oppressed when the only thing different is that we're heterosexually challenged (not that big at all)

 

I don't see OP's question as ableist. It's a demographic question which is important to talk about. While I can't try to answer it, I can think of a variety of reasons why individuals with disabilities might have different views on homosexuality on average. It would be important for socially-minded educators, activists, and researchers to know whether that was the case.

Ableism is just as real as racism, sexism or homophobia. But ability, race, gender and sexual orientation all affect the culture that a person identifies with, which can affect that person's attitudes. That process is something we should be able to discuss.

 

I'm so confused as to why this became some big argument, when the OP was simply asking a question? I work with people who have severe disabilities - group home stuff - and I took no offense to this, and was planning on responding, but I don't want to add to this fire.

 

Working with disabled people doesn't absolve you of prejudice, if you have any. If you're not disabled, you don't hold the ability to declare what is or isn't offensive.

 

No, what it does is it shows you greater respect for people who can't even get by without help getting them dressed in the morning or, heck, even being able to feed themselves.

Frankly, I took offense to your comment. I took offense simply because I meant absolutely no harm. Zip. Had the OP said "god, all these dumb disabled people are so ignorant and homophobic" then I'd be all good and mad.

If this has become a site where we can't ask simple (even if slightly silly) questions that might be able to bring up discussions, then I'm done.

 

No one is being hateful, and I'm not being accusatory. I simply said that caring for disabled people doesn't mean you're not prejudiced, but I never said anyone was being prejudiced.

In any case, back to the topic; I wonder if many people genuinely think that disabled people are more homophobic. It seemed to me that the teacher was just justifying homophobia and ableism in one easy, dismissive move.

 

Straight privilege is crumbling all over the western world. We're at the forefront of a sexual revolution, and like I said elsewhere homosexuals have much less to complain about than other minorities.

I, like other marginalized people, have taken the brunt of the anger gay cis men have, from transphobia, misogyny, and heterophobia, despite never saying or doing anything wrong to them. Racism abounds too within the white gay male community, but they're dignified under the mantle of oppression, so they're seldomly called on it. If I, as a straight male did it, do you think I would get away with it? Look at Chuck Knipp and his racist drag queen caricature that he makes a living off of. Do you think a straight male like myself could get away with that?