I first wanted to address a comment that was made in class comparing color-blind racism to saying to people with disabilities, "I don't see you as disabled". I feel that these situations are almost the same and that in both cases someone's experience and identity is being invalidated by another person. To consider color-blind racism or this comparison with disability, I think comments made of this nature are not ill-intentioned but it is difficult position to consider from an outside perspective how someone wants to be treated regarding their disability. I always think, do they want me to address it or ignore it? And I think most of the time it depends on the person and you probably have to get to know them to understand how they feel about themselves and how they identify with their disability. Just as any identity characteristic, disability should never define a person. The "normate" that Garland-Thompson refers to as the superior person may actually be the minority of the population. So why is it that everyone has to be compared to this "normate" as the epitome of perfection?
I would also like to touch on today's discussion of prosthetics, specifically when Serlin talks about being born with a congenital dysfunction as opposed to going though a traumatic experience of losing a limb or becoming paralyzed. Drawing from personal experience, my cousin was in a motorcycle accident when he was about 20 years old, and as a result he is paralyzed from the waist down. Just recently, he had to have one of his legs amputated due to severe bed sores resulting in an infection from sitting in his wheelchair. At one time my cousin was able-bodied and did not have to deal with these difficulties but now he does and I feel that these experiences have shaped the person that he is. At the age of 36, he has been extremely successful in running his own business as well as running a restaurant business with his twin brother. Sometimes I think about if he hadn't become paralyzed, and I'm sure my family does too, how much more he could have accomplished in addition to all that he's done even with a disability. I consider this because at one time he was able and he was the "normate".
On the other hand, my brother was born with a mental disability that has never been fully diagnosed, but he functions at a lower reading and comprehension level and therefore has always struggled. Specialists told my parents he probably wouldn't be able to do most of the things that people with a "normal" mental capacity could do when he was younger. But now at the age of 25, he proved these individuals wrong. Some of them said he would never be able to drive (because he can't read) but he has been driving now for 7 years and has never been pulled over or had any problems. Others said he would have difficulty finding a job or being successful in one. Today he has a full-time job that as a custodial worker in a high school and he loves it. My family and I understand that this may be as much of a potential that he can reach but we are so proud of what he has done to prove so many people wrong.
Comparing these two situations, I think when one person is born with an issue that they can't control (in my brothers case) people praise what they have accomplished and find any success beyond the ordinary as something to be commended. While for my cousin, it is easy to imagine what his life would have been like if he had never been in an accident because we knew his as an able-bodied individual. Whereas, we have never known my brother as able-minded or intellectual, so any success is a great success.
Thinking about being thrown into a disability and born into one really brings about a lot of thoughts for me and I'm not sure how much this relates to the reading or diverges from it. But, I wish that any individual facing a disability or handicap could be regarded as a capable and normal human being because they can go beyond what you expect of them. All individuals should not be stereotyped and put into the same category because everyone has different experiences, no matter the disability or even if they don't have one.
Wow. You have very brave family members. But I agree, a lot of this class has dealt with the unfair and critical historic views on the minorities and other groups. It is a shame almost that it took a war for a disability, but at the same time the war provided a lot of technology to make life more convenient. Obviously, contemporary views on disabilities are a lot more advanced than views decades ago. Thankfully, people now tend to look at their characters and not at their physical traits. Also technology has advanced so that many disabled have access to high functioning prosthetic. Just because one is disabled, does not mean one cannot be a member of the workforce.
ReplyDeleteWe as 'able bodies' are conscious about others that are not 'able bodied' in our view. Certainly in my opinion I do not believe that having a disability makes someone incapable of achieving a dream of theirs or at least unlikely to achieve it. These people should be praised for overcoming adversity. They are changing the world everyday and people are thinking less and less of these "disabilities". I agree with Jeff's idea of looking at characters of people instead of physical traits. These people can still function on a day to day basis and have certainly inspired many more individuals.
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