Dear Liz, I was interested in your comments about how people are silenced.
Some research I did showed that the participants felt they could only talk
about their disabilities in certain ways, one of them being in humour and
that the negative experinces associated with beign disabled were suppressed.
I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this or would be keen to
know if you have come across any other research or papers that have dealt
with this, Thanks, Sarah supple.
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 3:41 PM
Subject: Re: Something Positive?
> <Maybe the term 'be positive' is one of those mindsets advocated ( and
> overused) by professionals, society etc as a way of 'overcoming'
impairment.
> And in turn diminishes/quashesthe voices and experiences of disabled
people.>
>
>
> Yes, I think you will find this to be true and to put this in front of
> activists, would be like waving red rag to a bull and quite rightly so.
>
> We hear this (let's talk about something positive) often within the
> restricted growth community and it is generally used as a strategy to
> either shut people up or move people into another direction.
>
> Another strategy to keep 'disabled people down' is the issue of feelings.
Be
> careful in case you hurt someone's feelings and how many times is this
used
> to shut disabled people up? I remember it well from the old Day Centre
Days
> - It s called keeping the lid on things and whose feelings are we actually
> talking about here, the disabled persons or the professionals?
>
> This is not me "lacking empathy" or "being insensitive" though some
people
> will believe only what they want to believe. I have seen too many
disabled
> people kept down and out of the picture because of language and behaviour
> like this.
>
> Yes it's certainly negative not positive and an infringement on freedom of
> speech and please think about how difficult it is to challenge
'possitivity'
> like this because if you do, it will automatically label and stigmatise
you
> as being 'negative'.
>
> Regarding the hierarchy of impairment issue, isn't it interesting how
these
> ideas manifest? (and that neuro diversity is a fake!) I don't for one
minute
> believe that anyone in the neuro diversity debate is pushing for a
hierarchy
> of impairment, this is all propaganda (again). All we are seeking is a
> recognition that our impairment exists at all and some kind of rights to
go
> with it, is that too much to ask?
>
> Liz Fetes
>
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