Simi has a point about it also being a social role and identity. However,
I'd also like to add and (I think someone already eluded, if not, stated
it) that by defining one's self as disabled and/or by recognizing that is
how one is defined by society, one has already experienced discrimination
by virtue of the label/identifier itself. Others have already mentioned
that discrimination does not have to be experienced consciously on an
individual level for it to exist for the group as a whole and this does
not or should not take away one's feelings of affiliation with the group.
After all and to put it in another context, Walter White, being damned
pale, blonde haired and blue eyed, did not experience prejudice and
discrimination the way most Black men of his day did and this did not mean
he did not and/or should not identify as a Black man and did not know and
understand what others of his community experienced and did not make him
any less a Black man. Jean Toomer, another damned pale brotha (although
he denied it), was just as much a Black man. He did not identify as
Black. He did not acknowledge any discrimination ever being brought upon
him or his and swore up and down that he was an American (with everything
acknowledged except African ancestry). And he was a Black man too whether
he liked it or not, experienced what the rest of the community experienced
or not, knew or cared about the rest of the community or not because, at
least in part, he knew that is how society and the law defined him no
matter how much he liked to pretend otherwise.
One has to take into consideration when dealing with identity politics
(which is what appears to be what is being wrestled with here -- and not
the social model) several factors: legal definitions, self
identification, society's identification and "familial" identification --
to name the four biggies. One can "experience" or "know" discrimination
or not "know" or "experience" it and there are countless ways to label
that knowledge/experience or lack thereof and, although that way of
knowing is as much a factor in one's identity as it is a by-product of
one's identity, it does not MAKE one's identity in and of itself no matter
how one is defined or defines self.
Simi Linton wrote:
> Idon't think of disability solely in terms of oppression, or the more
> specific idea of discrimination. I think of it also in terms of social
> role and social identity. So even if you have never (?????) experienced
> direct discrimination, you might be aware of certain scripts,e
> xpectations based on your role, and also self-aware of disability as a
> marker of your identity. Simi Linton
>
> --- Michael Peckitt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > To all
> >
> > Firstly, I am a supporter of the social model but I
> > am experiencing a bit of
> > confusion that I am trying to clear away and would
> > like some help.
> >
> > If, in the disability/impairment dualism, disability
> > is seen as social
> > oppression and impairment as the physical facticity
> > of *the condition* what
> > if I have never experienced discrimination? , does
> > that mean I am not
> > disabled? Is it just an problem for epistemology - a
> > question of knowing?
> > It is obvious the medically I have a condition -
> > cerebral palsy yet I have
> > never to my *knowledge* experienced discrimination.
> > In this case the social
> > model has no safety net with which to restore my
> > ontological security as a
> > disabled person - so without indulging in "false
> > group consciousness"
> > similiar to Marx's false class
> > consciousness in which I put not stock what am I?
> >
> > Thank you for your time.
> >
> > Michael
> >
> >
> > ______________________________________________________
> > Get Your Private, Free Email at
> > http://www.hotmail.com
> >
>
> ===
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> Simi Linton
> [log in to unmask]
> 212 580 9280 (phone and fax)
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--
Carolyn
check out, "Passing, Invisibility and Other Psychotic Stuff" at
http://www.tell-us-your-story.com/_disc68r/00000003.htm
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