One could argue that it were not spelled out because the political self
awareness of disability as a means by which society oppresses deviancy had
not yet matured, and that Roosevelt were a pycoogical victim of the
oppression in that throughout his political carreer he allowed his
disability to be effectively concealed from the American Public.
Whether this were a cynical move because he knew that were it widely known
he would have no political carreer I do not know, but in a way by failing to
"come out" he were colluding in his own oppression whether he were aware of
it or not. More so if he were aware of it.
I often see David Blunkett in these terms as the equivalent of an "Uncle
Tom" whose failure to encompass the oppression that disabled people has
suffered has led to an increasingly discriminatory education system in the
UK.
It seems to be a fact that successful disabled people often succeed by
denying there disability in the same way as one would not open declare ones
gayness.
Larry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of David Pfeiffer
> Sent: 07 May 2001 01:30
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: a littel bit of history
>
>
> An Historical Irony or an Historical Outrage?
> David Pfeiffer
> Center on Disability Studies
> University of Hawaii at Manoa
>
>
> While reading an article recently I was struck by what might
> be called an historical irony, but what might also be called an
> historical outrage. The article was written by Brian Urquhart (a
> former Undersecretary General of the United Nations) and was
> titled Mrs. Roosevelt's Revolution. It appeared in The New York
> Review, April 26, 2001, pages 32-34. It was a review of the book
> A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration
> of Human Rights by Mary Ann Glendon.
>
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