(heads up: this comment is likely to be less articulate than my previous ones, because I’m having a bit of a cathartic rant)
“The deaf people I know don’t consider it much of a disability at all, besides the social expectations thrust on them by hearing people”
This eloquently captures a lot of my own feelings about disability; There are other aspects of my identity (such as my queerness) which feels like an identity that I choose for myself (which is quite empowering), but with disability, it very much feels like something thrust upon me.
Here’s the way I think about it: let’s imagine I’m having a really good day in terms of my walking ability, and I am taking a stroll around a scenic lake. Even though it’s a good day for me, there inevitably will be times when I need to take a break, and so I’ll likely take advantage of many of the benches along the walking route. But there have been plenty of times when I’ve been walking with an able bodied companion and they were the one who tripped and needed to re-evaluate their ability to complete the route; or they get tired sooner than they expect and need to take frequent breaks in order to make it all the way round. What’s the difference between that person and me?
Well, obviously the difference is in the severity and frequency of those issues, but my general point is that there is natural variety between different people’s capability, and there’s also a heckton of variation within each individual. Disability and capability are inherently relative. As you highlight, there are many people who would likely fit the legal definition of being disabled (e.g. for the purpose of discrimination laws) who don’t actively identify as being disabled — and there’re so many reasons why this might be the case. For instance, some people may feel that their impairment is sufficiently low (or well managed) that in most scenarios, they are not functionally disabled. And on the flip side, able bodied people have the capacity to be functionally disabled, depending on the context (breaking a bone is one example of that, but also ageing, or also chronic exhaustion causing them to be fatigued and achy).
My overall point is that I wish we lived in a world where disability didn’t exist. I don’t mean this in a eugenicsy “let’s fix all the broken people” kind of way, but rather I wish that society would just chill the hell out and stop being so weird about stuff. It’s the able bodied majority who are the ones making disability, as a conceptual label, be a thing. Labels can be super useful, but only if we use them as dynamic tools to help us interface with the world. In practice, labels thrust upon people are treated like rigid, natural categories, which leads to people being squashed into boxes that aren’t right for them
Sometimes I can walk up and down stairs with no problem. Sometimes my able bodied friend might struggle with that same task. To me, those are functionally same — I might struggle more often, but it’s always a context dependant and variable thing. “Disability” as a category often gatekeeps people in the "able bodied " box from accessing support that they need (which is especially a problem if they have a health condition that is causing them to become more disabled over time — people end up feeling like they don’t deserve the support). On the flip side, people like me are pressured to stay within the disabled box, because if we appear to be more capable than the simplistic labels applied to us suggests, then that throws all of our experiences and needs into question.
Deconstructing the category of “disabled” is easier said than done. We’d need a world much more accessible than this one to even begin that work.
I have no idea how coherent this comment is, but thanks for engaging in this conversation with me. I confess that I came into this in a slightly defensive headspace, because there were aspects of your earlier comments that rubbed me the wrong way, but I really appreciate the thoughtful replies you left me (especially the one I’m replying to right now — the solidarity I felt with you was part of the fuel for this cathartic rant). The internet is full of needless hostility and wasted time in messy threads, so when a nice interaction like this happens, it really brightens my day
(heads up: this comment is likely to be less articulate than my previous ones, because I’m having a bit of a cathartic rant)
This eloquently captures a lot of my own feelings about disability; There are other aspects of my identity (such as my queerness) which feels like an identity that I choose for myself (which is quite empowering), but with disability, it very much feels like something thrust upon me.
Here’s the way I think about it: let’s imagine I’m having a really good day in terms of my walking ability, and I am taking a stroll around a scenic lake. Even though it’s a good day for me, there inevitably will be times when I need to take a break, and so I’ll likely take advantage of many of the benches along the walking route. But there have been plenty of times when I’ve been walking with an able bodied companion and they were the one who tripped and needed to re-evaluate their ability to complete the route; or they get tired sooner than they expect and need to take frequent breaks in order to make it all the way round. What’s the difference between that person and me?
Well, obviously the difference is in the severity and frequency of those issues, but my general point is that there is natural variety between different people’s capability, and there’s also a heckton of variation within each individual. Disability and capability are inherently relative. As you highlight, there are many people who would likely fit the legal definition of being disabled (e.g. for the purpose of discrimination laws) who don’t actively identify as being disabled — and there’re so many reasons why this might be the case. For instance, some people may feel that their impairment is sufficiently low (or well managed) that in most scenarios, they are not functionally disabled. And on the flip side, able bodied people have the capacity to be functionally disabled, depending on the context (breaking a bone is one example of that, but also ageing, or also chronic exhaustion causing them to be fatigued and achy).
My overall point is that I wish we lived in a world where disability didn’t exist. I don’t mean this in a eugenicsy “let’s fix all the broken people” kind of way, but rather I wish that society would just chill the hell out and stop being so weird about stuff. It’s the able bodied majority who are the ones making disability, as a conceptual label, be a thing. Labels can be super useful, but only if we use them as dynamic tools to help us interface with the world. In practice, labels thrust upon people are treated like rigid, natural categories, which leads to people being squashed into boxes that aren’t right for them
Sometimes I can walk up and down stairs with no problem. Sometimes my able bodied friend might struggle with that same task. To me, those are functionally same — I might struggle more often, but it’s always a context dependant and variable thing. “Disability” as a category often gatekeeps people in the "able bodied " box from accessing support that they need (which is especially a problem if they have a health condition that is causing them to become more disabled over time — people end up feeling like they don’t deserve the support). On the flip side, people like me are pressured to stay within the disabled box, because if we appear to be more capable than the simplistic labels applied to us suggests, then that throws all of our experiences and needs into question.
Deconstructing the category of “disabled” is easier said than done. We’d need a world much more accessible than this one to even begin that work.
I have no idea how coherent this comment is, but thanks for engaging in this conversation with me. I confess that I came into this in a slightly defensive headspace, because there were aspects of your earlier comments that rubbed me the wrong way, but I really appreciate the thoughtful replies you left me (especially the one I’m replying to right now — the solidarity I felt with you was part of the fuel for this cathartic rant). The internet is full of needless hostility and wasted time in messy threads, so when a nice interaction like this happens, it really brightens my day