Language & history
The problem with the word "disability"
A look at the prefix "dis-" and where its deficit associations actually came from.
Uncovering Ableism · From Deficit to Strength
Written from a life on both sides of that word — not to tell anyone their own experience is wrong, but to shine a light on context most of us have never had reason to look at.
In 2015 a surfing accident left me with a C5 spinal cord injury. Since then I've spent as much time thinking about the words used around disability and impairment as I have living with one myself. "Disabled" and "disability" are common, comfortable words — plenty of people carry real pride in them, and that's not what I'm here to question. What I am curious about is the history sitting quietly underneath the word: where its associations with deficiency and dependency actually came from, and what changes when we notice them.
What this site is about
The history and etymology behind "disability" — how a prefix that turns a quality into a failure ended up attached to a whole group of people, and why almost nobody's stopped to notice.
Aversive ableism, and the Harvard test that measures it. I took it myself — my own result wasn't flattering, and that's exactly why I think it's worth sharing.
C5 quadriplegia, twenty-plus years in — the reclassification, the invisible load, and what actually rebuilt a life worth having: adaptive mountain biking, a two-year fight with ACC, and a community that never treated me as fragile.
Latest writing
Language & history
The problem with the word "disability"
A look at the prefix "dis-" and where its deficit associations actually came from.
Bias, seen clearly
I took a bias test about people like me
My own result on Harvard's Implicit Association Test — and why I'm sharing it.
Bias, seen clearly
Aversive ableism: the bias of good people
The hiring manager, the caring teacher, the well-meaning healthcare worker.
Reference hub
Harvard's free bias test measures automatic preference — including, in its disability version, preference for physically abled people over physically disabled people. I took it myself. My result wasn't flattering. I think everyone should take it before deciding where they stand.
Take the test →About
In 2015 I sustained a spinal cord injury while teaching my children to surf — I became a wheelchair user overnight. C5 quadriplegia: about 84% of my body doesn't move or feel the way it used to. "I became acutely aware of society's often negative assumptions about people with impairments" — and that awareness is where most of what I write here started.
Before the injury I spent nine years as teacher-in-charge of a secondary school Outdoor Education programme, trained as a counsellor, and spent a lot of time alpine climbing, rock climbing, kayaking, adventure racing and on multi-day hikes. Rather than accept limitations, I chose to challenge them — founding AdventureWorks on the belief that "limitations can be catalysts for strength," and fighting ACC for two years to get adaptive mountain biking funded.
"I believe there is no such thing as an easy life: either we lean into challenge and act intentionally toward a meaningful existence, or we slowly drift backwards." Everything on this site comes from the same place — a positive, strengths-based view of difference.
C5 quadriplegic · Founder & Director, AdventureWorks · Former Outdoor Education teacher-in-charge (9 years) · Trained counsellor
Get in touch
If something here landed, or you think I've got it wrong, I'd genuinely like to hear it.
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