Greetings, Everyone...
For the whole of my own life, I have recognized the existence of a
hierarchy of disability within our community which seeks to rank
disabilities and thus discredit some of us. Those with profoundly
visible conditions i.e. wheel chair riders (for whatever cause),
cane-walkers (the blind from whatever cause) and a few others, have
been viewed as most deserving of inclusion. The less visible the
disability, the less deserving of inclusion. Challenges to our status
as disabled are common and frequent.
The fascinating aspect to this is that the same type of hierarchy
exists among non disabled toward our status...and we are frequently
challenged over the severity of our disabilities. And, it is not
uncommon for many of us to be told that we can "overcome" if we only
exert sufficient willpower.
Without going as far as renaming, or even necessarily deconstructing,
we need to recognize that a fundamental touchstone within our community
of folks remains the need to sort out who deserves status as disabled.
We are still bound to the "normal" paradigm established by the non
disabled community and this is our central work: to reframe ourselves
and obliterate the hierarchy that seeks to refine definitions of who is
truly disabled and who is not.
It is my opinion, therefore, that use of the word impairment has more
to do with limiting status as someone with a disability and
discrediting some individuals. If some of us react with vehemence to
certain language or descriptors, it may be a consequence of having both
the majority and minority communities working toward our exclusion.
Cordially,
Paula Apodaca
PS---I am epileptic, female, and 52 years old. I have been epileptic
since 1955 and have seen much of the inner workings of both
communities. I have an older sister who is congenitally blind.
On Wednesday, September 1, 2004, at 08:23 AM, Simon Stevens (CEO,
Enable) wrote:
> Mark/Maria et all
>
> This certainly raises some extremely interesting issues and clearer
> proves
> the vast degree of prejudice and misunderstanding between impairments.
>
> People are assuming that all impairment is socially constructed and
> while I
> would agree many impairments are constructed, I think this fashionable
> desire to wish away impairment may have dangerious consequences for
> people
> with actual 'impairments'.
>
> I am extremely offensive to have my identity challenged because it is
> not
> fashionable to acknowledge impairment and be proud of that difference.
> I am
> further offensive but by the belief someone who seemed non-disabled and
> wishes to label themselves as impairment has more right to feel
> oppressed
> and be valued for that more than people with severe impairment. Maria,
> you
> seem to be suggested people with severely are already recognised and
> should
> not be labelled as oppressed and should put up with the everyday
> abuses they
> received and they are accepted by society.
>
> If this list is not about ending disablism and improving the lifes of
> all
> disabled people regardless as how they define themselves, then we have
> serious problems.
>
> On this list there is now 2 gouups. The first group are people who
> fight to
> get their impairments recognised but on their terms. They wish to be
> treated
> special and reverse attitudes towards disability.
>
> The second group, my group, are people who are no luxury about how they
> define themselves and fight to be accepted as normal and to be allowed
> to
> take responsibility for there actions. They are fought not to be
> labelled
> and to be accepted.
>
> The problem is while the second group have been fighting between
> themselves,
> the first group as taken the lead and endeared the general public.
> Their
> impairments are neat, cheap and acceptance, even fashionable. They
> welcome
> the medical models and want professions
>
> The second group are boring, expensive, hate professionals and are
> uncomfortable for the public, plus their impairments can not be
> explained
> away as wishful thinking.
>
> In a time to come, when money is even more limited, I think see a time
> when
> the first group are actively calling for the termination of the second
> group, we are already see this in education!
>
> Deconstruction of impairment? Please someone explain how you can
> deconstruct
> a starvation of oxygen at birth resulting in brain damage. How can you
> deconstruct my constant dribbling or my speech impairments? I resent
> the
> assumption that I am being negative because I accept these as facts.
> They
> are not negative but they are me.
>
> I talk about myself because that’s what I know, my research is life not
> books. Even if I was wrong and for some bizarre reason it is all in my
> head
> (which techniquely it is), so what? Don't I need and deserve my
> impairment
> label to keep me sane (ok, maybe just saner) in this crazy world we
> live in.
>
> Lets debate, this is interesting!
>
> Simon
>
> --
> Simon Stevens
> Chief Executive, Enable Enterprises
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mark Priestley
> Sent: 01 September 2004 13:40
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: impairment
>
> mmm... it's a well trodden debate but my own view, for what it's
> worth, is
> that it's more helpful to think about social model analysis as a tool
> to
> expose the oppression experienced by people with 'perceived
> impairments' or
> people 'labelled as having impairments' (since impairment is itself a
> social
> construct). The definition and labelling of impairment is critical to
> the
> process of disablement - a long standing technique of surveillance or
> governance that has a real impact on people's lives (e.g. influencing
> decisions about which schools people attend, where they live, if and
> where
> they are employed, whether they can be parents, whether they should
> live or
> die, etc.).
>
> In a social world constructed and governed around shifting
> expectations of
> normality those impairment labels change over time and in response to
> changes in the social relations of production and reproduction (hence
> disability changes too). From a social model perspective it would be
> the
> construction and regulation of human normality and social norms that
> gives
> rise to disabling barriers (e.g. norms developed in response to the
> emergence of capitalism, industrialization, modernity, cultural
> imperialism,
> nationalism, eugenics, medicalisation, etc.).
>
> Understanding how this kind of labelling takes place, the assumptions
> on
> which it is based, and the impact it then has on people's lives seems
> pretty
> consistent with social model analysis as far as I can see. I don't
> think it
> necessarily requires a belief that anyone actually 'has an impairment',
> whatever that is (!), as an individual property (e.g. Carol Thomas'
> book?).
> Sara is right about learning differences for example. From a social
> model
> perspective, understanding why some but not others are labeled as
> impairments (learning difficulties) exposes how institutions of
> learning and
> teaching fail to accommodate some differences.
>
> To take Sara's and Simon's points, the research literature on learning
> difficulties' seems to have taken this on board more thoroughly than
> other
> fields by often talking explicitly about 'people labelled as having
> learning
> difficulties' rather than 'people with learning difficulties' (a
> construction that has evolved radically over recent years to include
> many
> new labels and many new groups of people).
>
> PS. I found Hughes and Paterson's paper on the 'disappearing body'
> quite
> helpful in highlighting the risk of 'abandoning the body to medical
> science'
> by accepting fixed biophysical notions of impairment.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Mark
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Larry Arnold
> Sent: 31 August 2004 23:04
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: New Book
>
> Except of course that your version of the social model still
> discriminates
> because it contains the concept of impairment, which is a personal and
> as
> negative as any "word" and anglo centric linguistically.
>
> Oh well whats the point of trying to change and challenge peoples
> beliefs as
> they hang onto them anyway, Ossification would be a good word for it?
> if it
> weren't so latinate in construction.
>
> I leave you word people to it, you can't see beyond your personal
> constructs
> because you can't think beyond your language into anothers mind who
> thinks
> differently.
>
> Larry
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Colin Barnes
>> Sent: 31 August 2004 07:39
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: New Book
>>
>>
>> Dear All
>>
>> I hope the following will be of nterest. It is the second in a
>> series of three books documenting contributions to seminars held
>> across the UK last year.
>>
>> Colin Barnes
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------
>> -----------------------------
>>
>> Disability Policy and Practice:
>> Applying the Social Model
>>
>> Edited by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer
>>
>>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Colin Barnes
>> Sent: 31 August 2004 07:39
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: New Book
>>
>>
>> Dear All
>>
>> I hope the following will be of nterest. It is the second in a
>> series of three books documenting contributions to seminars held
>> across the UK last year.
>>
>> Colin Barnes
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------
>> -----------------------------
>>
>> Disability Policy and Practice:
>> Applying the Social Model
>>
>> Edited by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer
>>
>>
>> 'Disability Policy and Practice: Applying the Social Model of
>> Disability' contains thirteen chapters on the application of
>> social model inspired thinking on social policy in Britain. The
>> contributors include established figures and newcomers to the
>> field. They raise a range of important issues and concerns
>> central to theorising and researching disability policy and
>> practice spanning employment, housing, higher education with
>> examples from England, Scotland, and Wales, social 'care',
>> independent living and leisure and social relations. Together
>> they provide ample evidence of the continuing relevance of
>> debates emanating from the social model of disability within
>> disability studies and related disciplines. This book will be of
>> particular interest to academics, researchers, professionals,
>> disabled people and lay audiences with an interest in disability
>> issues and the on going struggle for a more equitable and just
>> society.
>>
>> Disability Policy and Practice: Applying the Social Model' is
>> also available on request at no additional cost on CD, in PDF
>> format, for ease of access for people who require alternative formats.
>>
>> The Book and CD are only available by mail order from the
>>
>> Centre for Disability Studies,
>> School of Sociology and Social Policy,
>> University of Leeds,
>> LS2 9JT
>>
>> at: £16.50 including postage and packing (20% discount for orders
>> of four or more)
>>
>> Payment may be by credit card (Visa or Mastercard) via the
>> telephone, fax, email, or by cheque, payable to the University of
>> Leeds. To order contact Marie Ross on (44) 113 3434407 (tel. and
>> minicom), or (44) 113 3434415 (fax) by email:
>> [log in to unmask] or by post at the address above.
>>
>> ________________End of message______________________
>>
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>>
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>>
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>>
>
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