My experience too but mine WAS acquired through illness. I have no physical
dysfunction at all. I have as Michael Morgan suggests, lost the ability to
do many things that I used to be able to do when I was 17 years old
(pre-morbid - I love that term) but then again, I cannot jump somersaults
anymore either and I don't grieve for that. Maybe its like getting older,
you move on to replace those things you can no longer do with other things
that you enjoy and that you are good at. My illness (agoraphobia for the
curious) doesn't neatly fit into your definition of disability...the one
grounded in the physical reality, in fact, for many years I wished I could
swap it for something physical, definable, understandable. I can walk, run,
hop, jump and skip but I have a mobility impairment (is that the right word
here?). My life is largely a secret because of stigma and the fear of
discrimination (I am lucky enough to hear what other people say because I
pass so easily)...anyway I could go on and on and on but there is no term
thats going to describe everyone's experiences of disability.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Higgins" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2002 7:29 AM
Subject: Re: disability as loss
> Michael,
>
> What have I lost? I was born with (rather than acquiring my impairment.
I
> find I have acquired skills that I am certain I wouldn't have acquired had
I
> been a different (i.e. non-visually impaired) person.
>
> I don't mourn my ""lack"" of sight - in fact - I would hate to have a
> ""cure""!
>
> Aside from having to learn lots of things I am not particularly interested
> in having to learn about (the inevitable consequence of any ""cure"") I
> genuinely enjoy and am very happy with who I am. I have acquired a
> politics, combativity, some communication skills, a musical ability, the
> opportunity to attend a fascinating course of study in a higher Education
> Institution, the ability to read in the dark - as well as do much else
which
> some people ""with sight"" find difficult or impossible, a developed sense
> of touch and hearing acuity, listening skills, friendships, empowerment,
> strength and pride to name but a few - none of which I see in those forms
in
> other members of my family. This isn't of course to say for a moment that
I
> am any better a person than anyone else - of course that's a nonsense. I
am
> simply saying that I have so much to be proud of and to value in what I
can
> only attribute to the skills I have acquired partially due to (rather than
> despite) my being a
> blind person.
>
> I am not denying that for many non-Disabled People who
> acquire impairments, there is a sense of loss - partially based on the
> oppressive hegemony of a society that teaches us all to think of
impairment
> as being loss or limitation rather than as difference. I can't drive a
car
> and don't especially want to either. I might, at some point in the future
> if technology develops to that extent whilst I'm alive, have control over
a
> vehicle. I don't feel any sense of loss about being a non-driver in the
> same way as I don't feel loss over my lack of brain surgeon skills.
>
> I did for a number of years - thanks largely to segregated education
> - internalise my oppression as a Disabled person. I am sure I still have
> much
> internalised which I need to work out and address. I do however fervently
> and sincerely find the Social Model of Disability (i.e. the model which
> states that it's society which dis-ables those of us with impairments or
> behavioural differences. The negative aspect (the "dis" if you like)
arises
> not from impairment but from the interaction between impairment and a
> society which oppresses and "dis"-ables people with impairments and
> behavioural differences. It (the Social Model) isn't an abstract academic
> ivory tower notion
> for me. It's a means of liberation and true practical empowerment.
>
>
> Best Wishes,
>
> Mike Higgins,
>
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