Absolutely John!
Gill.
Gill Dixon BHSc Hons, RGN
Independent Dyspraxia Advisor/Trainer.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask]
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of John
> Homan
> Sent: 29 September 1999 22:44
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: diversity on campus
>
>
> Thank you for openeing a couple of windows or so to let the breeze and sun
> shine. Again there seem to be more questions than answers:
> Who and what is this movement representative of? Well educated
> academics of
> all races/religeons?
> if it is to be representative, who is going to speak for the
> undernourished,
> under educated? Who will represent the large numers of people with
> intellectuall disabilities, who can not speak up for themselves? Who is
> representing unpaid carers who also have enormous emotional equity?
>
> Can the 'movement' be all inclusive? If not, may be we should be honest,
> accountable, transparent (I know mostt of the buzz words current), do a
> reality check, and define the limitations, and important stop pretending.
>
> Have a good time, rgds John
>
> (writing this I have a decided sense of deja vue)
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: carlos drazen <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, September 30, 1999 12:52 AM
> Subject: Re: diversity on campus
>
>
> > The question Dr. Hirsch and others have asked is:
> >
> > Has anyone heard of a social movement for change that didn't have an
> > educational
> > component ?
> >
> > My answer is yes--status movements for "change," (such as Temperance,
> Birth
> > Control and Women's Rights, in the 19th century) tended to push
> for change
> > that -preserved the status quo (Gusfield, Symbolic Crusades, 1986). In
> > these cases, there was less an educational component because the status
> > groups calling for change knew what they wanted and knew who they wanted
> to
> > exclude. I have read and watched all of the emails on this
> topic and have
> > yet to hear anyone point out what you all know is true. That
> when you say
> > you want diversity at universities to include people with disabilities,
> and
> > that you want the SDS to send speakers around to talk about
> disabilities,
> > you actually mean white persons with disabilities and their
> issues. Since
> > there are few (if any) people of color with disabilities in SDS, I don't
> > see any issues of say, poverty and disability, the double impact of
> > disability and minority status, or just plain cultural issues of
> > disability and minorities. It puts me in mind of the early women's
> movement
> > when women said they wanted to be treated as "equals," but their issues
> had
> > nothing to do with minority women--did they want to be treated
> as equals.
> .
> > .or treated like white men? Look around you at the "history of people
> with
> > disability" Where are the minority issues that our history is full of.
> > Which of you scholars are writing about disability in an all inclusive
> > manner--such as to include people like me, a black woman who
> has spent her
> > life in a wheelchair ? Are you even aware of the issues of my group?
> >
> > The early temperance movement was started by the elite upper
> middle class
> > when they felt that (due to a large amount of poor and eastern European
> > immigrants) they were losing control. Temperance was their way
> of gaining
> > that control back. "Status concepts lead us to focus upon such elements
> of
> > values, beliefs, consumption habits and the cultural items
> differentiating
> > non class groups from each other." (David Reisman, The Lonley
> Crowd, Yale
> > University Press, 1950 pp31-36) By using temperance as a sign of being
> in
> > the elite class, this group was able to maintain their status by
> > identifying all who were not in their class as lower and deserving less
> > respect.
> > I bring all of this up because, as I mentioned earlier, I see a
> great many
> > parallels between the symbolic crusades of the 19th century and the
> > Disability Cultural movement of today. This seems to be a
> status struggle
> > for an elite group of persons with disabilities (white, well educated)
> > to--in the midst of the Diversity movement--acquire the status of their
> > able-bodied white counterparts. This does not seem to be about equal
> > rights but about getting the same rights as other elite white
> persons have
> > in this society. So my questions are: when you say that diversity
> programs
> > need to include issues and persons with disabilities, what issues and
> > persons are you meaning? when you say you should send speakers from SDS
> > around to talk about disability at these campuses, how diverse will your
> > speakers be and how diverse will your issues be? Where are the disabled
> > people of color in the Disability Cultural Movement? Where are the
> > Disabled Speakers of Color in your movement? And finally in quoting a
> > saying you all seem so fond of ,"Nothing about us without us,"
> what "us"
> > are you meaning? I ask these questions because I think that
> you may need
> > to answer them before you begin "educating" people on disability.
> > This is not a complaint or a flame to this list and I don't mean to
> > insult but to perhaps get us thinking about what we mean when we say
> > Disability Studies. And --more important--what groups we leave out when
> we
> > do Disability Studies. From my perspective, you seem to have used the
> > minority studies model to create it and then you did away with any
> minority
> > perspective--as if being disabled is the only minority that's important.
> > Now you accuse Diversity Programs at universities of doing the
> same thing
> > that you seem to have done, which is to forget the struggles
> and issues of
> > a whole group of people with disabilities. W.E.B. DuBoise said, "The
> > foremost issue that needs to be resolved in the 20th Century
> will be that
> > of race (The Souls of Black Folks, Duboise 1941).
> > Call it Disability Studies, Disability Culture, whatever, you will still
> > need to acknowledge and resolve the issue of race within within
> your group
> > if you are to gain any credibility with other status groups in this
> > society. Those of us in the "minority people with disabilities" group
> > will be around. . .watching. . .to keep you honest.
> > Carlos Clarke Drazen
> > UIC Athletics/Department of Disability and Human Development
> > 1640 West roosevelt RD m/c 626
> > 312/413-7520 v 312/413-1326 FAX
> > [log in to unmask]
> > I am not a crook! --Richard Nixon
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