Inspired by the work of Dr. Victoria Verlezza
Internalized ableism is not a personal failing. It is the quiet echo of systems designed to exclude. When we question our worth because we move at a different pace, need support, or require rest, that isn’t weakness. It’s conditioning. And like all conditioning, it can be named, examined, and unlearned.
If we are truly committed to equity and belonging in our schools and communities, we must look not only at external barriers—but at the internalized messages that continue to shape how we see ourselves, others, and what it means to “belong.”
This work echoes a deeper cultural shift within our district—one that affirms every student as a general education student first, and insists that belonging must move beyond aspiration to lived reality. When inclusion is woven into the very fabric of how we teach, serve, and lead, “all means all” evolves from a guiding phrase into a collective practice that shapes every decision we make.
🔑 Core Messages & Practices
1. Name the System, Not the Self
→ Ableism doesn’t start in the individual. It’s reflected in our expectations, policies and everyday language.
→ We must move from self-blame to systemic understanding, and from silence to responsibility.
2. Normalize Access Needs for Everyone
→ Access is not a favor or exception; it’s a universal part of the human condition.
→ When we honor access needs without shame or apology, we move toward true inclusion—not just accommodation.
3. Unlearn Hierarchies of Disability
→ All disabilities are valid—whether visible or not, formally diagnosed or not.
→ Let us resist the urge to prioritize or rank whose needs matter more, and instead, build policies and cultures that start from trust and care.
4. Question Productivity Culture
→ Our students, educators, and families deserve to know: Your worth is not your output.
→ In a system that praises “pushing through,” choosing rest can be a radical act of resistance and repair.
5. Join Communities of Care
→ Healing does not happen in isolation, it happens in community.
→ Let us create spaces—particularly disabled-led ones—where interdependence is honored, not hidden.
6. Engage in Reflection
→ Ask: What have I unconsciously absorbed about disability? Whose experiences have I centered, and whose have I dismissed?
→ This work belongs to all of us—disabled and nondisabled alike.
📚 Recommended Reads
- Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
- Disability Visibility edited by Alice Wong
- Sins Invalid’s Disability Justice Primer
- https://www.rootsofinclusion.org/uploads/1/1/8/8/118839424/roi_presentationaccessiblepdfbeyondbarriers.pdf
- https://youtu.be/mj7tEYtdsGc?si=v_wnQIrEFPRw9_dV
✨ Let’s continue building schools and communities where every body and every mind can belong—not by fixing people, but by transforming systems.
— Zahra Eslami
Co-Chair, DEIB Committee | Lake Washington PTSA Council 2.8