Measles Outbreaks Reveal Extent—and Danger—of Disability Stigma | Opinion

Newly reported measles cases in Chicago are the latest in a potentially deadly—and highly preventable—string of outbreaks, which have been recorded in at least 17 states since the start of 2024. These outbreaks are a direct result of anti-vaccination misinformation that is rooted in ableism and harms all communities—able-bodied and disabled alike.

Even though the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine has been proven to be highly safe and effective to protect against measles, misinformation that inaccurately links the vaccine to autism has led to widespread vaccine anxieties. Anxieties around the MMR vaccine are rooted in ableism—a form of discrimination that devalues disabled people—because they suggest that getting sick and possibly dying from measles is preferable to living with autism.

Think about that for a moment: Disability is so stigmatized in this nation that a sizable—and growing—number of parents have been convinced it's better to risk their child contracting a deadly virus than risk their child developing a disability.

This vaccine anxiety has led to lower rates of MMR vaccination and puts everyone at risk regardless of disability status because community immunity is needed to prevent the spread of measles, especially to the most vulnerable (like pregnant women, people with immune disorders, and newborns) who cannot be vaccinated.

Although ableism and vaccine anxieties impact everyone, they do not impact everyone equally. Communities that are further marginalized by racism, sexism, and xenophobia feel the weight of ableism much more acutely.

My research with Somali refugees discusses how these communities were targeted by anti-vaccination activists and how this contributed to lower rates of MMR vaccination and more measles outbreaks. The Somali parents I worked with expressed concerns about being able to support a disabled child in an environment where they already faced resource scarcity, racism, and xenophobia. To be clear, I am not suggesting that the Somali community is any more ableist than any other community. But they are disproportionately impacted by the lack of accessible and structurally competent disability support in the U.S. This makes it much harder to support a disabled family member.

Somali parents, like all other parents in the U.S., also have to sift through lots of harmful misinformation when trying to learn more about vaccine safety. In an environment where reliable information is often paywalled, poorly communicated, or inconsistent, it is no wonder parents—especially parents from marginalized communities who have been exploited and harmed by the medical system—have a hard time trusting vaccines and other medical interventions.

While it may be understandable for parents from marginalized communities to fear for their children's ability to thrive in an ableist society, the truth is that avoiding vaccination does not guarantee children will never become disabled. In fact, not vaccinating against measles, mumps, and rubella can actually increase risk of death and disability—not only for children, but for their families and communities.

We must also question the beliefs that put everyone at risk in a misguided attempt to prevent disability. These beliefs rely upon assumptions that being disabled means having a poor quality of life, or that disabled people are unworthy of social and economic investment. These assumptions are simply untrue. While disabled people may face additional hurdles in life, our society's failure to support disabled people is much more harmful than disability on its own. As disability rights advocate Haben Girma noted, "The biggest challenge is ableism, not my disability."

The ableist assumptions underlying anti-vaccination beliefs lead to worse health for able-bodied and disabled people not only by increasing the spread of disease, but by reinforcing the idea that disability is undesirable and that we as a society have no responsibility to support disabled people. These beliefs are harmful to everyone because health and well-being are not static throughout our lifetimes. Both disabled and able-bodied people will age, get sick, have life emergencies, develop new or worsening impairments, or simply require more rest sometimes.

Instead of urging people to make medical decisions based on fear of disability, we must develop the infrastructure to support people at all stages of life and ability.

Sam Streuli is a Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project and AcademyHealth. They are a writer, researcher, and evaluator in public health whose work is focused on health equity and justice.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.