Ally Burnout: Views of Disability Studies Students

Disabled people/people with disabilities (DP/PWDs) need allies in general and subject matter specific allies in particular given the many problems they face in their daily lives, as it is, for example, evident in the language of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Numerous actions are required from allies of, for example, DP/PWDs and other marginalized groups. Authentic allies are often expected to take on activist roles, yet activism carries the risk of activist burnout, which in turn places allies at risk of ally burnout. Despite this, ally burnout is rarely discussed in the literature, and, to date, there are no studies that specifically examined ally burnout in the context of allyship to and by DP/PWDs. The aim of this study was to deepen our understanding of the factors and topics that heighten the risk of ally burnout, including both non-disabled individuals acting as allies to DP/PWDs and DP/PWDs acting as allies to others. In this study, our participants included eighty-seven critical disability studies students. Critical disability studies students were chosen because they see themselves as allies of DP/PWDs and want to make a positive difference in the lives of DP/PWDs, including disabled students. We used an online survey using the Qualtrics platform as our tool to obtain the data. Our participants identified many factors that can lead to ally burnout and indicated many actions needed to decrease the danger of ally burnout of non-disabled people being allies of DP/PWDs and DP/PWDs being allies of others.