OK Folks
I need a glossary. What is UPIAS? How does it compare/contrast with other
social models? What are some of the main criticisms of any social models of
disability? What are some of the alternatives?
Don Roberts
Consumer Advocate
Kodiak, Alaska
-----Original Message-----
From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Shelley Tremain
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2001 2:38 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Speaking out against oppression
Hi, Alden.
Thanks for this response to my post as well as for the paper which you
attached to another. I appreciate your personal observations. For my
own part, I want to inject some cultural relativism into the
discussion.
I think it is important to bear in mind the *cultural specificity* of
the UPIAS F.P./social model (not only their historical location). Not
all of us on this list (or involved in disability organizing, etc more
generally) came to our understanding (personally or politically) of
disability through the F.P., Oliver's version of the social model, or
any of its subsequent incarnations. In fact, I would suggest that few
of us outside of your particular part of the world did. And yet, many
of us have been engaged in political struggle, disability activism,
writing, teaching, etc.
This social fact throws into question the suggestion that the social
model (UPIAS or other) is "fundamental" for a political or personal
understanding of disability. For when one claims that something is
‘fundamental' for something else, one implies that it is a necessary
(essential) component of that thing. Without it, the thing wouldn't be
what it is. Thus, if one claims that UPIAS (or the social model) is
"fundamental" to political or personal understanding of disability, then
one must either dismiss, ignore or deny the activism, organizing,
self-reflection, etc. which has been engaged in without influence by
UPIAS or say that it isn't really political, not of the right kind, and
so on. Certainly there are some on this list who have made that sort of
claim here or in their writing elsewhere, but this sentiment seems to be
a solipsistic, imperialistic and rather obnoxious one. Forgive me if I
am attributing more to the first sentence of your remarks than you
yourself would. However, I think this presumption, which often finds
expression here (and in writing elsewhere) needs to be stated
conditionally (as well as culturally and historically relativized) and
ought to be challenged when it is not.
Finally, not all of us came to our (Foucauldian or other) critiques of
the social model (any version thereof) in the manner in which you
suggest. Many of us came to these critiques through (for instance)
feminist and Foucauldian critiques of power, critiques of the sex/gender
distinction, etc. which we had already incorporated into our political
outlooks. For some of us (I'm speaking of myself in particular) the
social model (and UPIAS F.P.) is an increasingly disseminated conceptual
framework against which and through which we can articulate and
illustrate the political positions we have for some time held and the
political and theoretical arguments we have for a number of years tried
to use in our organizing and writing. In short, some of us direct our
critiques at the social model at this point in time as a rhetorical
strategy, a heuristic device (not an expression of disillusionment or
enlightenment).
I have enjoyed reading your posts and hope you will continue with the
discussion (despite the fact that you must return to work tomorrow!)
Best regards,
Shelley Tremain
Alden Chadwick wrote:
> Whilst I agree with you, I cannot forget the fundamental importance
> (personally and politically) of the UPIAS Statement and the later social
> model theories. Without the social model I could not have begun to apply
> Foucault's ideas. As Lois McNay has pointed out, in order for one
> discourse to replace another it must fit into the gaps and disjunctions
> between individuals' experiences and the representations of those
> experiences in dominant discourse. The UPIAS statement levered open the
> gaps between my experience and the then dominant medical model.
>
> Regards
>
> Alden
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