Oppression Olympics

[Timsup2nothin]

Indeed. Though in the first world (including cis first world like Greece) opression is often relative.

I'm thinkin' oppression is always relative, by definition.

 

[Synobun]

Really. They ask able-bodied people who request special ballots to answer intrusive questions such as how they get their groceries and mail, and how they get to doctors' appointments? They ask for their bank statements as ID for voting, in an effort to deter them? They tell able-bodied voters, "I'll send someone to take care of that if I have the time"?

I see most of that as window dressing. Voter suppression is easiest when it targets specific demographics, so I always look to motive first. You vote for their competition so they'll do their best to prevent your vote. That you're disabled is secondary; if redheads almost exclusively voted for their competition they'd try to find a way to suppress that vote too.

I'll freely admit that enacting policies against us is easier than with completely normal people, however. We're different, and we're often less capable just by virtue of being what we are. So we're an easy target. But a lot of the time when someone is being rude to me and specifically targets my disability, it usually ends up being the case that they don't truly care about the disability on a personal level. They're just picking whatever's easiest to help them get to their intended goal. And as crass as it sounds, the very nature of being disabled makes us more complicated to deal with on just about anything.

That's different from, say, someone who is racist, because they hold a now-inherent hatred of anything to do with people of that skin colour. They'll actively go out of their way to hate them and act against them, just on principle. Most of the time when someone uses my disability against me it's just for convenience, either because they want to dismiss me or they just don't want to care (and caring for disabled people is naturally a more taxing commitment than caring for someone who is completely able-bodied).

I really don't think this is true. Though it just occurred to me that maybe "poor" here means "bad" and not "lacking money"?

I meant bad, not financially, yes. Classism is of course very real and widespread. Gotta keep the poors down.

 

[Kyriakos]

I'm thinkin' oppression is always relative, by definition.

Well it isnt much relative for people getting their hands cut off in african civil wars. Or by belgium in congo

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I see most of that as window dressing. Voter suppression is easiest when it targets specific demographics, so I always look to motive first. You vote for their competition so they'll do their best to prevent your vote. That you're disabled is secondary; if redheads almost exclusively voted for their competition they'd try to find a way to suppress that vote too.

Well, the UnFair Elections Act does target five specific demographics. How likely is it that a homeless person will have any of the normal forms of ID that are allowed? They did away with vouching, so even that wasn't acceptable. At least the VIC has been brought back, but even students and some seniors (women in particular) are unlikely to have utility bills in their own names, and of course not everyone has a driver's license. I never did, and I've never needed a passport or visa since the last time I crossed the border into the US was in 1987 and I wasn't asked for any ID at all.

Elections Canada itself makes no effort to publicize the in-home special ballot for disabled voters. It's news to the candidates (the one I voted for didn't know), and it's news to a lot of people. So I shout it from the rooftops at every opportunity, on CBC.ca comment pages, here in RL (I mentioned it to some of the nurses at the hospital who work with disabled people so they can pass it along, since a disabled body does not mean the mind inside that body is disabled).

You're right in that motivation matters, and it was obvious that seniors, students, disabled, homeless, and indigenous voters were targeted because these demographics are unlikely to vote for right-wing parties (whatever name the Reformacons choose to call themselves; in Alberta provincial politics they call themselves the United Conservative Party, led by Harper's lapdog Jason Kenney). So putting advance polls on the second floor and shrugging off the fact that elevators weren't available, refusing in-home ballots for people like me, robocards directing people to nonexistent polling stations (they got caught doing the calls, so they did it with cards, thinking they could claim "human error"), etc. are all ways of suppressing the vote for these five demographics.

But it's interesting that you mentioned red-haired people. There was actually a case of a red-headed scrutineer being thrown out of a polling station because the PDRO decided that her red hair meant she supported Liberals and that her hair color constituted Liberal campaign literature. The funny thing is, though, she was there on behalf of the Reformacon candidate.

I'll freely admit that enacting policies against us is easier than with completely normal people, however. We're different, and we're often less capable just by virtue of being what we are. So we're an easy target. But a lot of the time when someone is being rude to me and specifically targets my disability, it usually ends up being the case that they don't truly care about the disability on a personal level. They're just picking whatever's easiest to help them get to their intended goal. And as crass as it sounds, the very nature of being disabled makes us more complicated to deal with on just about anything.

Yes, I agree that some people don't like "complicated" and so they do whatever it takes to get "complicated" out of their way, off their phone, out of their email inbox, or whatever else. That's the point at which we have to figuratively (if not literally) stand up for ourselves and say, "Hey, we are also citizens, taxpayers, and voters. You don't get to ignore us."

That's different from, say, someone who is racist, because they hold a now-inherent hatred of anything to do with people of that skin colour. They'll actively go out of their way to hate them and act against them, just on principle. Most of the time when someone uses my disability against me it's just for convenience, either because they want to dismiss me or they just don't want to care (and caring for disabled people is naturally a more taxing commitment than caring for someone who is completely able-bodied).

Actually, I have heard of apartment managers who find any excuse possible not to rent to disabled people, or do whatever simple things might be necessary to accommodate them (ie. installing safety rails in the bathroom; they don't realize that such things are often seen as a positive thing by non-disabled prospective tenants).