John (Homan)
To dive into the discussion...
1) classifying, surveying and snooping has been a feature of policy
responses to the category 'disabled' since at least the fourteenth century
in the UK.
2) The UK government continues to fund numerous pieces of research that is
supposed to reveal or describe another aspect of this 'problem group', but
many of us would say (with some justification) that a good deal of this
'research' is simply an answer waiting for a question.
3) Yet more taxonomies and surveys about disabled people indicate that
disabled people continue to be seen as the 'problem', rather than the
majority world that continues to exclude, oppress or simply ignore.
4) Ultimately I suppose our (as in researcher or theorist) assumptions, and
therefore selected paradigms, will be influenced by our life experiences,
choices and politics.
5) Flowing from 4), perpetuating dominant and uncritical research methods
simply serves to throw light into small corner of a small room, whilst
leaving the structures, motives and outcomes of the disabling world
entirely invisible.
6) Without (genuinely) any criticism intended... every new batch of
disability 'professionals' seem to take the same predictable route in their
desire to solve the 'problem' of disability, with the result that the same
discussion is repeated, with minor variations, on a cyclical basis, thereby
preventing or at least limiting progress.
7) Finally, although I would agree that we must highlight the particular
situation of disabled people, I am increasingly worried that concentrating
on different 'minority groups' makes it easier to conceal the big picture -
where increasing sections of the community become surplus to economic
requirements and, rather than attack this economic determinism,
power-brokers seek to scapegoat the excluded. The logical conclusion of
this, IMO, is a return to eugenecist ideals... which is exactly where we
are with the 'promise' of genetic screening and the back-door euthanasia
being practised by the medical profession in the UK, with the full support
of the judiciary.
Of course, the foregoing can easily be dismissed as the rantings of a
left-wing fanatic with his own agenda, but maybe that knee-jerk and
over-used response simply serves to reinforce the claims made above?
Regards
Richard Light
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