Hi all,
During the great discussion of optional "isms" ("Request for Lexical Advice
- Radical Philosophy"),
Mairian wrote:
> However, another thing I would struggle with is that there are many
> disabled people who would not come under our meaning of disablement
> but are nevertheless oppressed. I do wish that somehow we could begin to
think
> about both 'being' and 'becoming' but maybe that's a philosophical
> question for the disability movement to consider
I'd love to see a discussion that stretches towards a Berger-ized
philosophy of knowing disability. We cover the epistemological and the
ontological quite a bit here, but I think there are multiple ways of
experiencing disablement that have gone unexplored. From my perspective,
as a parent who straddles the synthethic border between Norm and Otherness,
and who also is in touch with the anxiety caused by the regressive habits
of MS, I may be situated on a "being/becoming/been there" trajectory, which
further complicates categories and cognitions. But the ontological
question also invokes the notion of the ambiguous, wave-like, dynamics of
*identitifying* oneself as this or that, at any given time, in any given
place. In other words, to speak of "becoming" or "being" disabled, can
there be clearly delineated moment(s) where one might (or does or should)
take on (or discard) the "disabled identity"?
Struggling with these questions might help clarify the notion that
everyone's identity(ies) are in constant flux. This could be the point of
stasis, the common ground, from which understanding the Other might take
place?
Does any of this make sense? Personally, it hurts my head. I hope the
philosophers out there will toss it around a bit, though.
Cheers,
Dona
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dona M. Avery
University of Bristol, England
Research Fellow, Graduate School of Education,
Arizona State University, USA
PhD program, English: Rhetoric & Composition,
UK Tele: 01793 487 424 Email: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.public.asu.edu/~donam
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|