Ableism in Atheism Anonymous #69

Do you consider yourself to be a person with a disability?

No.

Have you (or do you personally know someone who has) felt out-of-place or limited your involvement with an atheist community because of disability-related situations?

No.

What steps could atheist communities take to become more inclusive?

The atheist community I belong to (Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers, find ‘em on Facebook) enforces a policy of no racist/homophobic/degrading language, which recently included a big deal about a guy using the word “retarded” in one of his comments. A nice precedent was set for the community about the use of words of that nature, and I think people forget about little details. Sometimes, it just takes the first step of saying “THAT comment was unacceptable,” instead of laughing.

Any other thoughts about ableism and atheism?

I found the survey via http://freethoughtblogs.com/wwjtd/2012/02/27/ableism-in-atheism/

An interesting article and something I hadn’t thought about before.

Response #69 from the Ableism in Atheism survey.

Note: Thank you to all the groups (including IAF) who are taking a stand.

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