>
>Michael wrote:
>>
>>I don't like the term 'disabled' wholeheartly myself. But I have
>>come to find arguments about language a little bit of of a waste of
>>time. No matter what you call yourself someone will pick out the
>>negative side. So I prefer disabled or 'corporealy different' a notion
>>which a friend of mine, An anthropology student in Australia introduced
>>to me. To me it is a matter of what the word means and what image it
>>conjures up and not the world itself.
>>
>I'm afraid I find it hard not to respond to this statement Michael. I find
>it very hard to agree with the view of language as being 'a waste of
>time', even though my philosopher friends inform me that it is very much a
>philosopher's perspective.
>
>In the 'real' world - and language is a part of this 'reality' - how come
>the vast majority of human relationships fail because of 'communication
>breakdown?' How come 'the talking cure' and the Internet are boom
>industries? And how come so many of the misunderstandings that happen on
>this list are down to 'local' differences in how we understand particular
>terms and concepts - we perform different meanings in our readings? How
>come using particular words consistently, particularly when we are joined
>by others in doing so, makes us feel good (or bad)?
>
>Of course if you locate language to the level of dialectics, I would agree
>that it doesn't seem to be much help - and I assume that this is where you
>locate it because of your use of the term 'corporeal' (which in its
>simplest sense I take to mean material, bodily, physical). But within
>Disability Studies, I really do think that such a perspective seems to be
>a denial of ontological pluralism and the fact that many disabled people
>are necessarily preoccupied by language because it is at the heart of
>their experience of oppression. I've no doubt that you will interpret this
>as 'picking out the negative side', but actually it reflects my
>frustration with the lack of a common and non-essentialist view of
>language that doesn't deny ontological difference, and that can be used as
>the basis of dialogue across difference.
>
>Best wishes
>
>
>Mairian
>
>
>
>
Mairian Corker
Senior Research Fellow in Deaf and Disability Studies
Department of Education Studies
University of Central Lancashire
Preston PR1 2HE
Address for correspondence:
111 Balfour Road
Highbury
London N5 2HE
U.K.
Minicom/TTY +44 [0]171 359 8085
Fax +44 [0]870 0553967
Typetalk (voice) +44 [0]800 515152 (and ask for minicom/TTY number)
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"To understand what I am doing, you need a third eye"
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