One colleague of mine who has a disability once said to me, I quote "I don't care what people say to me about my disability, as long as they are in a position to provide what I need to bridge the gap between the so-called non-disabled people and disabled people", end of quote. He went further and said that, whether you call him dog, cat, disabled person, the disabled, activist., person with disability, etc -- that will not bring food on the table. I now understand where he was coming from. The main point I am driving here is that, it does not matter whether research is done by disabled people or non-disabled people. What is important is whether there has been a positive change in the lives of the reseached.
At some point, we all need someone in our lives, as human beings, we are depended on each other - the concept of interdependence, and not independence, as I don't believe that there is one person under this universe who is independent. Gender issues took time to make sense in some spaces because men were not part of the discussion. By the time women (wives) went back to their men (husbands) to sell the idea, the idea was not well received in some quarters, why? Because they did not have the understanding these women head, and instead, they tried to protect their own territories. And this can be said to the issues the relationship of disabled people and non-disabled people What is important is, "are we doing disability research or representing disabled people in good faith?" In any case if we look at it, everyone is disabled in one way or another, and everyone is immune to disability - at whatever stage of life. To say that able-bodied (for now) can't work in the field of disability studies - to me, is derailing the concepts of inclusion, interdependence and awareness.
Dr Tsitsi Chataika
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Stellenbosch University, Centre for Rehabilitation Studies)
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