Discrimination against people with disabilities is also called disablism. Gregor Wolbring, Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health Service at the University of Calgary (Canada), explains disablism as the "companion" of rejectionism:
"In its general form, Ableism is a set of beliefs, processes, and practices that create a particular way of understanding the self, the body, and relationships with conspecifics, other species, and one's environment, based on one's own abilities, and includes perceptions by others. Ableism is based on a preference for certain abilities that are projected as essential, while at the same time labeling real or perceived deviation from or lack of these essential abilities as a diminished state of being, often leading to the accompanying disableism, the discriminatory, oppressive, or abusive behavior that arises from the belief that people without these 'essential' abilities are inferior to others."
Fiona Campbell also distinguishes between disablism and rejectionism. According to her, disablism is traditionally the focus of research in the field of disability studies. Disablism promotes the unequal treatment of the (physically) disabled in relation to the non-disabled. It (distantly) marks the disabled person as "the other" and works from the perspective of those without disabilities.
According to Rebekka Maskos, "Ableism is broader than ableism. Like racism and sexism, the term maps not only the practice of dealing with a group, but also the social conditions and structures that produce that practice. Ableism is not only reflected in a slanted comment or a pat on the head, but also in the staircase without a ramp, in the lack of a lift, in the funds that organisers simply do not want to raise for sign language interpreting, live streaming or easy language. Conversely, the term ableism can also suggest that it is enough to simply change one's own attitude - namely into a 'disabled-friendly' one."
