-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Från: Julia & Marilla Hewitt & Phil Smith <[log in to unmask]>
Till: [log in to unmask]
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Datum: den 23 januari 1999 14:21
Ämne: Re: Current discussion
>Barbara wrote-
>>Have you ever thought to examine your attitudes towards one another: i. e.
>>attitudes of persons with physically disability toward persons who are
>>cognitively impaired, which include some with barely any intelligence.
>Even this may not be right question (waas this a question? hmmmm).
>Intelligence ain't a thing; it's socially constructed/created.This in the
>same way that ability/disability is culturally created. The idea is right,
>Barbara, to point out unfortunate false hierarchies of ability/disability
>that appear even from within a community that is (should be?) oriented
>toward seeing and criticizing them. But to say "some with barely any
>intelligence" implies that we are vessels, some fuller than others, of a
>thing that is real, quantifiable, etc. That is also a place we don't want
>to go. At least, I hope not.
>Phil
>
I agree to the fact that intelligence is a created "thing", and in so being
created is measured and shaped accordingly to fit the present society. BUT:
Is it also the "thing" needed for development of that society?
Intelligence is measured by the amount of "right" answers you give to
questions. These questions are not only biased to fit the "norm - being"
they are also questions to which we already know the answers (or at least
think we do). I cannot help but feel that this is just another way of
upholding the present authority or to give credibility to the ruling power
structure.
Isn't it the questions we ask ourselves and others which push development
forward? And if so, isn't it the individual, thinking in unconventional or
unexpected directions, who is most capable of posing the relevant questions?
Susanne
Recommended reading: Edward Said's speech, ("Education for Democracy"), to
the 50th commemoration of the declarion of human rights.
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