Disability discrimination

After doing my first reading assignment for my first class, I was struck by the idea that disability discrimination is so prevalent in our society. Not that this idea had never occured to me, but it is so overlooked. I have my bachelors degree in Sociology, so of course I studied issues of racial and gender discrimination in practically all of my soc. classes, but rarely was disability even mentioned. I learned the myriad ways that I take my white privilege for granted, but I think that concept also applies to my ableness privilege. I don't notice how accessible the world is to me, because I haven't had to navigate through it with a disability. I don't pay attention to whether or not there are wheelchair ramps, or accessible parking at the establishments I frequent. These are just the most obvious examples I can think of, but there are surely more subtle examples of my just being unaware of the needs of others who are differently-abled than I. I can already tell that I will be confronting some of my own prejudices that I don't even know that I have against people with disabilities in my near future. Of course I would like to believe that I am always politically correct and have no biases, but I did not grow up in a cultural vaccuum, and I know I will need to reshape some of the ways I think about disability and those with disabilities.