Two mistakes get made, and correcting one nefariously often reinforces the other. Here's the errors...
A) Assuming someone is capable of something they're not
B) Assuming someone isn't capable of something they are
Every time awareness is made one of one of these (stop telling people to do "thing", they need support!), it has residual splash damage on the other assumption. ESPECIALLY in a society that's so piss-poor awful at nuance. At understanding individual-level diversity. At not understanding that identity labels are fuzzy at times. Etc.
Response (really a suggested add-on) to Weslie Ricks's recent LinkedIn post...
"Please don't assume you know what someone is capable of just because you have been made aware of their disability. You often are hearing one word-- "autism" "deaf" "blind", etc. and then jump to assuming what someone is capable or incapable of doing. Even if you yourself also had the same diagnosis, you would not be able to determine someone's capabilities because all lived experiences are different. That would be like saying "I am a man and couldn't do this job and another man applied so therefore he cannot do the job either."
Instead, trust the person who has lived with the disability for their entire life. The person who actually applied for the job. They are an adult and read the job description and applied--allow them to make that call and always assume capability."
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