Blogging against disablism
On this May 1 2007 it behooves (word of the week) us to think about disablism and its converse ableism and what that means in the real world.
My view on this is very similar to abfh - every person on the planet is abled or disabled but some are more aesthetically abled or disabled than others. That is, the concept is heavily conflated with the fact that humans are not simply social but they're heirarchical with it, which leads to a pecking order mentality when it comes to ability and/or disability. This is the linear view of humanity and one I think is terribly truncated. The correct representation of humanity is as a multi-faceted gem (1). The more facets there are, the more it sparkles, which is what evolutionary theory concludes also.
Unfortunately, the holders of the keys to representation, psychologists and others of their ilk are probably more heirarchical than most. It is no accident that these folks are heavily invested in 'normal' and providing therapies to assist the afflicted in attaining the nearest approximation to normal that they can in the fond belief that therein lies the road to happiness. Alas, in purposefully dimming large swathes of those facets the whole gem shines less brightly, gathering the dullness of a synthetic conformity.
Anyone who has anything much to do with under-appreciated elements of society know this rather well because one of the unexpected bonuses of this position is a restored vision of the true sparkling nature of humanity. Some people call it joy.
1. This concept is a Phil Swartz original, though he applies it to religion.
My view on this is very similar to abfh - every person on the planet is abled or disabled but some are more aesthetically abled or disabled than others. That is, the concept is heavily conflated with the fact that humans are not simply social but they're heirarchical with it, which leads to a pecking order mentality when it comes to ability and/or disability. This is the linear view of humanity and one I think is terribly truncated. The correct representation of humanity is as a multi-faceted gem (1). The more facets there are, the more it sparkles, which is what evolutionary theory concludes also.
Unfortunately, the holders of the keys to representation, psychologists and others of their ilk are probably more heirarchical than most. It is no accident that these folks are heavily invested in 'normal' and providing therapies to assist the afflicted in attaining the nearest approximation to normal that they can in the fond belief that therein lies the road to happiness. Alas, in purposefully dimming large swathes of those facets the whole gem shines less brightly, gathering the dullness of a synthetic conformity.
Anyone who has anything much to do with under-appreciated elements of society know this rather well because one of the unexpected bonuses of this position is a restored vision of the true sparkling nature of humanity. Some people call it joy.
1. This concept is a Phil Swartz original, though he applies it to religion.
posted by Alyric | 5:52 PM
1 Comments:
I love this statement.
I have Asperger myself, and I am a successful professional, married with 2 children. My older 13 yo girl is diagnosed with Asperger a month ago. Now my husband and I talk about possible groups , interventions etc. I found many of them evil, first explaining to people, that they are disabled and then starting the expensive intervention programs. If someone told me 20 years ago that I was disabled and could not go to college and could not get a boy friend due to my problems I would never get where I am now.
We found with my husband that the worst statement is "why can't you just...?", Because I can't just. But I can, give me some time and freedom and I will accomplish what you struggling with and much more.
The new statement is "You CANNOT" and we will help you. I was wondering myself if there will be a whole generation of disabled people raised by the system. That is an experiment on people.
The result is yet to be discovered.
Please blame my grammar mistakes on the fact that English is my second language, not the Asperger.
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