Internalised Ableism
a teaching sheet.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the session, participants should be able to:

• Name common absorbed messages and where they come from.
• Distinguish internalised ableism from grief, accurate perception or simple preference.
• Practise tracing a belief to its source without pathologising the client.

Before the session

• Participants need: no prior reading.
• You need: this sheet. The Internalised Ableism page has more depth if you want it.
• Preparation time: about 45 minutes the first time.
• Materials: the case, the worked example and the worksheet below, shared in advance in accessible formats.

Key ideas

• Common messages: needing help means weakness; productivity determines worth; success means overcoming disability.
• The concept draws on disability studies, including Campbell’s work on internalised ableism (Campbell, 2008).
• Not everything hard about being disabled is internalised ableism. Sometimes it is just hard.
• Psychotherapy is not culturally neutral and can reproduce the same standards.
• The task is examining where a belief came from and what it costs, not compulsory positivity.

Full background: Internalised Ableism.

A session plan

A suggested 60-minute outline. Adapt timings to your group. Say at the start that people can take a break or step out whenever they need to, and add a planned break if the group needs one.

• Opening (10 minutes): ask the group to list messages about rest, help and productivity that they picked up in training or at work.
• Input (15 minutes): the key ideas above.
• Activity (20 minutes): the case below, in small groups.
• Discussion (10 minutes): the questions below.
• Close (5 minutes): one change each person will try in practice.

Activity: Tracing the voice

Fictional teaching example

Fionn, 23, is autistic and says he has to “earn” rest by finishing every task first. In small groups: identify the message, ask where it might have been learned, consider whether any of it is accurate or simply preference, and draft one question that traces rather than corrects.

Worked example: what Fionn’s rule might mean

Fionn says he has to “earn” rest by finishing every task first. Before deciding it’s internalised ableism, hold several possible meanings open:

• Rest feels morally undeserved.
• Unfinished tasks cause real, practical anxiety.
• Earlier criticism shaped a rigid rule.
• Finishing a task is genuinely satisfying for him.
• Several of these at once.

An open first question: “What happens for you if you rest before everything is finished?” That is more open than asking straight away who taught him an ableist belief.

Facilitator commentary. The therapist separates two things Fionn said, without naming either as ableism, and without replacing his rule with a rule about self-care or pride. If the old manager’s voice turns out to carry a message about disability and worth, that is where internalised ableism can be explored. That would come from Fionn’s account, not from the therapist’s theory.

Facilitator notes: likely answers

What good looks like

• holds more than one meaning open;
• starts with an open question;
• doesn’t name the belief for him;
• doesn’t replace one rule with another.

Discussion questions

• Which of these messages do you recognise from your own training culture?
• How would you tell internalised ableism apart from an accurate reading of how others behave?
• What is the risk of naming internalised ableism too quickly?
• How might meeting other disabled people change these beliefs?

Work here, pause, change direction

Difficult moments

Short responses for moments that often come up in this kind of session.

Don’t ask disabled participants to argue for whether their own access needs are legitimate.

Common misunderstandings

• “The goal is for the client to feel proud.” The goal is to examine, not to require a feeling.
• “If a client is struggling, it must be internalised.” Sometimes it is the world.

After the session

• Follow-up: each participant writes down one belief about rest or help they picked up in training, and where it came from.
• Review: next session, ask how it shows up in their work with clients.

Running the session accessibly

• Share materials in advance, in accessible formats, and use captions for any video.
• Build in breaks, and allow people to take part by speaking, writing or listening.
• Assume some participants are disabled. Don’t ask anyone to disclose, or to speak for disabled people as a group.
• Agree how personal material will be handled before the activity.