Living Extremophile: Life with Invisible Disability

And now, after all of that buildup...the example.

Photo by  Jilbert Ebrahimi  on  Unsplash Let me be clear here about one thing before getting into the meat of White Fragility and why I feel like there is an argument to be made that Able Fragility might exist. Ableism and Racism are not the same thing. They are not the same experience. Though ableism and racism share in categorizing and leading actions towards people in systemic discriminatory, prejudicial and marginalizing ways based on an a perceived bodily difference (disability or skin color) the results and experiences of the communities affected are fundamentally different (with the exception of intersectional identities).

I hesitate to use these words to describe the phenomenon. It is there, it is so very similar and so very predictable in its responses. Yet, I do not want to co-opt or move attention away from the idea of White Fragility, which is finally getting some traction in white spaces and with white people, so that we are starting to see and learn how we have been harmful to Black People and People of Color, even when we have not been meaning to be. I'm open to other terms and ways to call what I'm writing about if people have them. So this post will go in several parts. It may take me a minute to get through writing each part of it. Also, I am so open other language ideas to describe it.