Disabled people aren't separate from the working class. They're part of it. --- They're people in paid jobs, injured workers, carers, people pushed in and out of work by pain, fatigue or mental health. Even those who have never worked, and may never work, still live by the rules of capitalism: find the money to pay the bills, or go under. --- Capitalism systemically punishes disabled people for existing. It drives bosses and governments to see some people as "useful", and others as disposable. This is because capitalism runs on profit, not human need.
The boss's idea of "normal"
Bosses want workers who can show up when they're rostered and keep up the pace. We need to be able to take stress without breaking, follow orders, and keep going even when we're in pain. To the bosses, this is a "normal worker": someone ready, reliable, and always available.
That idea of "normal" isn't neutral. It's used against all of us. It makes the boss's expectations look like common sense. Anyone who can't keep up gets treated as a "problem": too unpredictable, too slow, too expensive.
This is because capitalism hates paying for anything it can't profit from. Disabled kids are treated as "burdens." Those who can't be easily slotted into the workforce, become a "budget issue". Disabled people and their families are forced to fight for the basics: transport, schooling, support at home. The result is that families (but mostly women) are expected to do the unpaid or underpaid work that keep people alive and offer basic dignity.
What's disability to a millionaire?
Disability isn't just a medical condition or an identity. Class is crucial to how disability is experienced. The same health problem looks very different if you're rich or poor.
A CEO with chronic pain doesn't face eviction for missing a few days of work. A landlord with depression doesn't lose access to food because they can't do long shifts. If they need a day off, the rent still comes in. The shares still pay out. Being in the ruling class buys insulation. Any challenges can be met with private healthcare, paid help at home, personal transport, and, most importantly, the freedom to rest.
What we understand as disability under capitalism has a class character. It's what happens when health problems collide with the compulsion to work for a wage and pay for basic necessities. Workers with disabilities who can't work, or who lose a job, risk losing everything. The same injury that's an annoying "challenge" for a boss can be a full-blown crisis for a worker.
And it's not that capitalism just "forgets" to include disabled people. It produces disability. Manual labour wrecks bodies. Care work burns people out. Hospitality and retail grind people down emotionally.
Poverty and housing insecurity disable people too. Cheap food, bad sleep, mouldy rentals, and constant stress over bills takes its toll. Capitalism breaks us down, then blames us for not coping.
Disability and discipline
The oppression of disabled people doesn't just hurt those with disabilities. It keeps the whole working class in line.
Disabled people who aren't working are used as a political punching bag. Politicians and media talk about "bludgers," "rorters", and "welfare cheats" to justify lower payments and more hoops to jump through. Disabled people are shamed for trying to survive-and it scares everyone else.
The message is simple: Don't complain, don't slow down, don't refuse overtime. One injury, breakdown, or diagnosis, and you could end up begging for a payment that doesn't cover rent. Disability becomes the shadow hanging over every worker. And most of us will experience it at some point, whether through old age or a family member.
That's why solidarity with disabled people isn't charity. It's self-defence. When governments cut payments, attack "benefit cheats," or make the NDIS and other supports impossible to access, they're not just targeting a minority. They're tightening the screws on everyone by making the alternative to exploitation even worse.
Class power, not pity
Disability is a class issue. The idea that disabled people never work, or that those who can't are outside the working class, is wrong. Class power can be built by, and with, disabled workers-including those who are unemployed.
But this can't just look like "being nicer" while everything else stays the same. Real class power means fighting together to change the conditions that create disability and punish it. And it has to be revolutionary too. The world we need is one where impairments aren't barriers to a free and full life.
Practical solidarity looks like backing a workmate who slows the job down for safety, not telling them to "toughen up". Solidarity is refusing to let management isolate someone who gets injured or sick. It means pushing unions to fight for high wages, shorter hours, and real sick leave, so people don't have to wreck themselves to keep a roof over their head. It takes fighting against cuts to the NDIS, JobSeeker and the DSP, even if you're not on them yourself. And it starts by challenging the divisive language of "bludgers" and "rorters".
Every win that makes life safer and more secure for disabled people gives the rest of the working class more breathing room. It strengthens all of us in the struggle for a world based on meeting needs, not making profits.
Under capitalism, disability is treated as failure. In a free society, it would simply be part of being human.
https://ancomfed.org/2026/06/disability-is-a-class-issue/
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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