My Whiteness

Our different identities define who we are and shape how we experience the world. Some identities you are born into and others are shaped by life experiences. Identities may give you a leg up in the world or just the opposite; you have to prove yourself twice as hard. I am a white, cisgender, upper middle class, abled, and pansexual woman. I was born into a white upper middle class home, but some of my identities developed as I grew, and some are still in flux. These identities define who I am and how I experience life. With some of my identities I am privileged over others, while with other aspects I am dis-privileged. Privileging one category of a group over others affects every aspect of life including socially, politically, and economically.
In an article, White Privilege and Male Privilege, Peggy McIntosh writes “I did not have to educate our children to be aware of systematic racism for their own daily physical protection.” (McIntosh, 1989, p. 89) This issue has come up again in the main news outlets with protesters and the emersion of the Black Lives Matter movement. As a white woman this is something I will never experience or could even imagine. I will never have to sit my children down and talk to them about racism in police forces or even systematic racism. I have that privilege of knowing that I will be protected by authority. My hair style, hair color, smell, or body shape will never be attributed to my race. If I apply for a job, I will never have to worry if my name is presumed to be a certain race and therefore not taken seriously. My race or ethnicity will never make people wonder if I am a legal citizen of the United States or not. My racial privilege not only gives me a leg up in the world, but also I am not always aware of my own racial identity. I am able to walk outside without thinking “I am white” and the consequences of
Disabled people in our society are seen as asexual, incomplete, sad, and in constant need of help. We exclude then and alienate them. As a result we have created a world for abled men which only isolated disabled people more. Our society sees disability, for lack of a better word, as a horrible thing to be avoided at all costs. We stigmatize disability, ignore the person, and see them as their disability. This is an issue that is very close to me. My mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when I was child and as I got older her illness affected her more and more. I do not want to go into the details, but she committed suicide two years ago. Right before she died she was having trouble going up the stairs, could barely sleep because of the pain, and took multiple naps every day. She never wanted to be disabled and always saw it as a burden on her family. After she died I found out that prognosis showed she was going to be paralyzed on her left side in less than two years. I wish society would not label disability as such a hated thing and provide better access for disabled