Just sort of piggybacking on that very good post I reblogged earlier, regarding comprehension and ableism in otherwise progressive spaces…
For years I’ve been hearing the phrase “intent doesn’t matter” in regards to what you say or do. I see it a lot less now, luckily, but it used to be used almost as a catch-all for “you’ve done something problematic, but we’re not going to listen to any mitigations and we certainly won’t forgive you”. And for years it’s made me lowkey uneasy, because intent…does matter.
It matters in regards to disabled and mentally ill people. A man hitting his wife, for example, is a terrible act and we know it, but there’s a huge difference between a man hitting his wife because he’s angry with her and a man hitting his wife because he genuinely believes she’s a hitman in disguise come to kill him. There’s a huge difference in the eyes of the law, too, or there should be.
People navigating social justice spaces who have comprehension issues are at a huge disadvantage, too, I don’t think we even realise how huge. No, it’s probably not your job to educate people, but there are people out there who legitimately cannot educate themselves, who may turn to Google but can’t understand it, who find themselves social pariahs because they’re struggling with concepts no-one has taken the time to explain to them and using the wrong words.
But, currently we punish misunderstandings with the exact same viciousness we punish malice, and that’s never not going to be ableist, and it’s a problem. Intent does matter.