Academic Ableism

Systemic discrimination against disabled people within academic institutions and research practices. In higher education, academic ableism manifests through inaccessible learning environments, expectations of productivity that do not account for disability, and research methodologies that treat disabled people as subjects to be studied rather than experts in their own experiences. In accessibility research specifically, academic ableism can appear as studies that prioritize non-disabled perspectives, use harmful language to describe disability, produce technology that reinforces stereotypes, or fail to share power with disabled participants and communities.