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VINE cofounders Miriam Jones and pattrice jones met in the context of a disability rights campaign, and a majority of sanctuary staff and volunteers are people with disabilities, so we are particularly interested in the conjunction between speciesism and ableism that defines and elevates “humans” by reference to abilities.
Among the most common justifications of human supremacy is the idea that only humans have some particular capability, and that this alleged superiority of ability (which is usually spurious) entitles humans to do whatever they like to nonhuman animals. As disability rights activist Mary Fantaske says, “That’s not just like ableism; that is ableism.”
The idea that certain cognitive or communicative abilities confer moral worthiness along with the right to exploit those who have different abilities harms both humans and nonhuman animals. This idea also factors into the very definition of “human” and therefore plays a significant role in racism and other forms of oppression wherein some group of people is falsely alleged to lack certain abilities and therefore considered subhuman.
When our value is dependent on our abilities, both humans and non-humans suffer.
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