ABSTRACT
Drawing on critical disability studies, this chapter explores ableist attitudes that intersect with childism. By understanding ableism, crucial knowledge is gained about childism in how prejudices against people with perceived disabilities and against children are based on ideas about a ‘norm’ and about ‘ableness.’ This chapter provides examples of social environmental aspects of discrimination in relation to disability and age that call for more progressive legislation on substantive age equality. How does adult normativity limit the social and physical conditions during childhood and what forms of adult biases inform our understanding of children and their behavior in terms of what we define as the ‘norm’?
