Anonymous #2 12w

Generally able bodied means not having a disability, but there are some who use it differently. People use it as a descriptor but while I might be coined “able-bodied” because I can walk, most of my body works, that is an incorrect description. I’m just ambulatory.

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Anonymous OP 12w

Ambulatory ALSO does not mean able-bodied or not disabled. I’m an ambulatory wheelchair user for example. Able-bodied just means you’re kind of a jerk for not giving your seat on a bus to a disabled person. You can be Able-bodied and have mental disabilities like autism, ADHD, etc

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Anonymous #4 12w

Oh, I agree. People with disabilities present in all different ways. My point was from me dealing with a co-worker who (we work with people with disabilities) described someone who was ambulatory as able-bodied. Which pissed me off because A) I hate the term and B) as you said walking doesn’t mean you’re not disabled. You don’t know someone. I can walk, but the rest of my body hates me. Yet I’m still able.

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Anonymous OP 12w

I think you might have a skewed view on the term able-bodied. Which is fine as a personal preference but it’s just a neutral term. Very “don’t call me cis!” It’s just “not physically disabled” in less words. Of course you’re still able to do things but that’s not what it’s referring to. It’s more “default settings of the body” if that makes sense?

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Anonymous OP 12w

“not having a physical disability” is the Only definition of “able-bodied”. if you yourself are physically disabled and someone describes you as able-bodied just because you can walk, then that’s them operating off of a reductive & flatly inaccurate misconception of what disability refers to, not a problem with the term itself

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Anonymous #4 12w

My first point in response to #2 was it means not physically disabled but other people view it differently… (literally #2 said you can be able bodied and still have a physical disability)… how do I have a skewed view? Because I dislike the term? Eh… everyone has their preferences.

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Anonymous OP 12w

well no, #2 said you can have “a disability” (not “a physical disability”) and still be able-bodied, because cognitive / non-physical disabilities also exist. that’s the whole point of using the term “able-bodied” rather than “not disabled”, because to call someone “not disabled” when they Are cognitively disabled is to erase their disability

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