My reading (mis-reading?) of what Alex is saying is that being or not
being an impairment /disability is relative to how it is constructed around
specific labour(living) situation/ task.
M.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Simon Stevens (CEO, Enable)" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 9:44 AM
Subject: Re: impairment
> Alex,
>
> Thanks for this. I would argue the disability/impairment relationship is
> similar to gender/sex. You argue that low vision is not regarded as an
> impairment but I would argue it is and that everyone has one or more
> impairments if we define an impairment as any difference from the
perceived
> norm.
>
> However, not every impairment results in disability.. hence low vision in
an
> impairment which is resolved by wearing glasses. Take away glasses, and
the
> impairment becomes a disability.
>
> The debate here is what is socially constructed and what does that mean.
> Okay, I could argue I have a speech difference rather than impairment, I
> prefer to argue others have a listening impairment.
>
> If impairment is socially constructed, is that always wrong? Can disabled
> people not be empowered by the construction. Equality is my goal but in
> order to achieve me, I must be different to fight for it.
>
> Many thanks, Simon
>
> --
> Simon Stevens
> Chief Executive, Enable Enterprises
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alex J. Lubet
> Sent: 02 September 2004 14:25
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: impairment
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm new to this list and it's my first post, but folks on DS-HUM (mostly
> in the States) have probably heard more from me than they care. The
> subject of the social construction of impairment interests me greatly as
> I've engaged it for some time and it figures prominently in my
> book-in-progress and should always loom large in any discussion of
> music, which is my field but hardly a prominent one in disability studies.
>
> I agree with those listers who argue that both disability and impairment
> are socially constructed. Since many have weighed in on this and it's
> very complex, I'll leave it at that. I think, though, that that makes
> locating the distinction between the two particularly important. You're
> probably all aware that the two terms are used pretty interchangeably
> (as is handicap) in common parlance in the States, though in DS we use
> the terms pretty much as folks on this list do.
>
> If the difference between disability and impairment isn't that they
> are/aren't socially constructed, then it's got to be something else,
> otherwise there's no useful distinction. Before I audition that
> distinction as I see it, I think it's important to emphasize that social
> constructions are very real, that social realities are still realities,
> and that their impact can be huge. Even if something is socially
> constructed, it's socially constructed with a basis that's very real,
> although sometimes that basis is only a very real perception that
> doesn't have much underlying. There's always a basis for the
> identification of disability and impairment, but both require
> identification, an action that requires human agency, and is thus social.
>
> In my experience, the case for social construction may actually be more
> easily made with the familiar analogy to gender/sex, than directly with
> disability/impairment. One does this by challenging the widely accepted
> notion that gender is socially constructed and sex is not. I would
> submit that the difference between gender and sex is not that they
> are/aren't socially constructed, but that they are/aren't embodied. The
> aspects of gender that are so often cited, such as clothing and
> cosmetics, aren't embodied. The aspects of sex that are so often cited,
> such as genitalia, are, of course, embodied, but the common taxonomy of
> precisely two sexes based on precisely two categories of genitalia is
> socially constructed. My current research includes a legendary jazz
> singer with a sexual impairment and it's taken me to intersex studies
> where one encounters a lot more variety than two sexual flavors of human
> beings.
>
> I think we can make a very good case for impairment as embodied,
> disability not. That takes nothing away from social construction of
> either. Easily amplified low vision is generally not regarded as an
> impairment. Mobility that calls for assistance (that is about as easily
> available as a pair of glasses) is generally regarded as an impairment.
> Both are embodied, but the is/isn't impairment distinction is socially
> constructed. Left-handedness is rarely construed as an impairment in
> most English-speaking places these days, but it is in many places. In
> certain musical situations LH creates challenges to getting the job done
> that are far more daunting than blindness, which is regarded as more
> significant in most situations.
>
> Hope that's useful and interesting and, as one new to this terrific
> list, not rehash. I have much more to say about it, but that's why
> people write books.
>
> Best,
>
> --
> Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
> Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music and Jewish Studies
> Adjunct Professor of American Studies
> Head, Division of Composition and Music Theory
> University of Minnesota
> 2106 4th St. S
> Minneapolis, MN 55455
> 612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)
>
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