I have received a number of nice off list emails about my
opposition to the ICIDH/ICF. I am grateful for all of these
inquiries and comments. Since there are a number of persons on
this list who are interested in and/or are using the ICF I would
like to summarize my position on the ICF which was stated in the
two publications of mine cited about a week or so ago.
1. Disability comes from discriminatory reaction to our
behavior and looks and what people (based on stereotypes) believe
about us. Disability does not have an "objective reality" much in
the same way that race does not. In fact many persons reject the
idea of an objective reality, but one does not have to accept
that position in order to oppose the ICF.
2. The ICF labels us as disabled because we do not behave in
a "normal way," but "normal behavior and looks" are based upon
white, male, Western, middle class values. The reason why the ICF
embodies such values is because white, male, Western, middle
class people control the resources and power in society and in
the World Health Organization (WHO). And, by the way, I am a
white, middle class male steeped in Western values through
"socialization" and education as well as being a person with a
disability.
3. I take the label of a person with a disability as an
ideological act in solidarity with my disabled brothers and
sisters and with non-white, non-male, non-Western, non-middle
class persons "disabled" and "non-disabled." I also take the
label as an "in your face" reaction to the discrimination faced
by me and by others. I do this as an attempt to educate other
people, "disabled" and "non-disabled."
4. The ICF's paradigm is the medical model which means that
persons with disabilities are placed in the sick role with no
social rights and no way to make personal decisions.
5. The ICF has internal problems of logic, has handicapist
language, and absurd humor: First, under Hair in i90120 (their
coding) it cites loss of hair anywhere on the body for any cause.
Is baldness an impairment? Second, in i90150 it cites
Pigmentation with no further explanation. Since gray hair is not
"normal," I am also classified as abnormal for having it.
6. Once categorized as disabled we are segregated into poor
housing, we are denied jobs, and we are refused services (like
home care) while local government spends millions on football
stadiums and athletic facilities for adolescents who want to
become millionaire professional athletes. (The last example may
only make sense in the US, but I am certain similar examples can
be found elsewhere.)
7. The ICF comes from the WHO which also developed for use
QALYs (Quality-of-life Adjusted Life Years) and DALYs (Disability
Adjusted Life Years). QALYs measure the amount of lost years of
at least moderate quality of life and DALYS measure the amount of
lost years of life both due to a disability. QALYs and DALYs are
used by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the
WHO to present people with disabilities as burdens on society and
as barriers to the commercialization of the world. Because we are
burdens and barriers we are candidates for elimination which is
eugenics in its clearest form.
8. The danger of forced death is real for people with
disabilities. Some members of the health professions already make
judgments based on the ICF, QALYs, and DALYs which shorten our
lives or make our lives lower quality. Public officials follow
these professionals in formulating policy which discriminates
against us. There is an irony in using so-called lower quality of
life to lower even further our quality of life and supposedly
shorter life spans to shorten our life, but the humor is lost.
These are the reasons why I oppose the ICF. Of course these
reasons need a fuller exposition, but the outline of it is here.
David Pfeiffer
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
David Pfeiffer, Ph.D.
Resident Scholar
Center on Disability Studies
University of Hawaii at Manoa
[log in to unmask]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I gave up cynicism when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel
Peace Prize....Tom Lehrer
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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