It has been assumed in several posts on the topic (prevention vs./& inclusion)
that disability is, obviously, a thing that is unwanted, undesirable, and, of
course, no one would choose to be disabled or choose to have a disabled child,
etc. if it could be prevented and, therefore, inclusion and prevention are not
contradictory. There's a real basic problem with this line of thinking that no
one has brought up yet -- at least, not since we left the discussion of why one
would possibly like themselves as Disabled -- and it should be pointed out, so
here goes. . . .
The assumption that what society defines as a disability is an obviously "bad"
thing that should be corrected/prevented stems from an empowered position that
defines difference as wrong and is no different than defining dark colored
skin, homosexuality, etc., as wrong and in need of correction or prevention due
to a perceived flaw in a physical or mental trait. And it was not so long ago
that these very same arguments were being made in the name of "race betterment"
against those of different hues, sexual preferences and other differences --
including disability. To some extent, these assumptions still exist about
race, sexuality, etc. Those who believe that "lighter is better" don't need to
ask Johnson Cheu if he'd like to be white. They just assume it because "no one
would choose to be anything else.
Whoever suggests that my Disabled body is like the lemon clunker a used car
salesman is selling to some unsuspecting pawn is, to say the least, confused.
I'm a '65 Corvette Stingray in pristine condition and low mileage, Baby. I'm
not a used car. I'm a rare classic. Like those in the Deaf community Paul
Preston interviewed in _Mother, Father, Deaf_, if I were to have children, I'd
prefer to have one's that are like me. If they weren't, that would be ok but
it doesn't change the fact that I'd prefer, like most people, to have children
who had my characteristics, my traits, and that includes what society has
deemed my disabilities. Why? Because I don't define disability in the same
manner as most of society. I don't define disability as an impairment, an
imperfection. Disability is just a physical or mental trait that is not
considered "normal" and that society has decided is incorrect and in need of
correction/prevention/assimilation. I don't see things "through a haze," as
someone else suggested. I see things quite clearly. Understand, what you
perceive as "blurry" is crystal clear for me because, unlike you, I am capable
of interpreting that "blur" for what it is (a car, an individual, whatever)
just as you are able to interpret those same objects as you see them and for
the same reason -- it's always looked that way. As I discussed with a friend
earlier today, human beings are adaptable creatures. One either figures out
how to use what one has to live in an environment or one dies from the
inability to figure shit out.
Just because a society has created an environment that is more hostile towards
people with certain physical traits than it is towards people with other, more
"average" -- perceived or real -- physical traits does not make the people or
those certain physical traits "wrong" and in need of repair or prevention. The
United States and other Western countries are not friendly environments for
many people of difference. However, in discussing prevention of those defined
as Black or Hispanic or Gay, one would not be likely to suggest that prevention
and inclusion are not contradictory terms.
And yet, here we are acting as if this is perfectly reasonable topic to discuss
and a logical idea to have in terms of another difference -- disability. Some
among you have claimed that the difference is a monetary issue. We're a drain
on society. We're dependent. According to the Board of Education of Topeka,
Kansas (Brown et al v. Board of Education et al), Black children were a
monetary drain on the educational system better spent on white children. The
same is implied in books like _The Bell Curve_. In the US, conservatives have
suggested -- some even insist -- that homosexuals, bi-sexuals, and
transgendered are not only a monetary drain on the US -- by assuming/suggesting
that we all have and are the only one's who get and transmit AIDS -- but also a
drain on the moral fabric of America.
And the list of prejudices goes on and on and on without ever an admission, or
even the barest of recognition, that societal prejudices which have created
extreme inequalities has created the "drain" that everyone in society, no
matter their situation, ends up getting sucked down. And I recognize that some
who identify, or are identified, as disabled believe that disability is
inherently wrong. I am also aware of a term for it -- internalized oppression.
And yes, I realize I have taken this discussion personally. How can I not?
You are calmly discussing my extinction and acting as if you include me while
you try to get rid of or prevent those like me that it isn't a bad thing or a
questionable thing or contradictory! Like it or not, to discuss the
prevention of disability is to discuss the prevention of the persons who have
those physical and mental traits because, as has been stated before, those
traits have -- for better or worse -- been a part of the fabric of that
person's experience and thus, been a factor in the creation of the individual
you wish to prevent.
To put it in other terms: Suppose society is able to prevent, most of the
time, Black people from ever being born and, at the same time, society included
those, who did manage to be born, in society. . . . Would it be
contradictory? Would you see anything wrong with it? Those who see nothing
wrong with the argument of prevention on those terms have already had their
epitaph written, ". . . . and then they came for me and there was no one left
to say anything."
--
Carolyn
check out, "Passing, Invisibility and Other Psychotic Stuff" at
http://www.tell-us-your-story.com/_disc68r/00000003.htm
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