Linkspam: Disability, whether to 'pass' or 'perform'?

[davidgillon]

Passing for Normal: The Austerity Politics of Visibility and Invisibility for Disabled People*

Fascinating academic paper by a friend of mine looking at the contradictory pressures of stigma and 'legitimacy' that drive disabled people towards either concealing or 'performing' their disability.

I think the way Naomi links the pressure towards 'legitimacy' into the wider aspects of the 'surveillance society' is really thought-provoking, as is 'the socially acceptable right of non-disabled people to invade the privacy of disabled people', while considering the DLA form as a mandatory, self-enforced version of the panopticon, oh my! Definitely worth a read if you're interested in disability politics, or just stuck between 'passing' and 'performing'.

* Site does require registration via FB or Google, but it's the first time I've seen a registration that lets you control what information is passed.

Comments

Re: Some early-morning, highly caffinated, thoughts

[capri0mni]

...Yeah.

On the other hand, the things that get defined as monstrous are also the things that defy categorization,* and when the categories are crap, maybe it's good to be a monster, and maybe the world needs us to be here. After all, if everyone fit neatly inside ready made boxes, then no one would get a glimmer of what's outside the box.

Okay, so maybe I do raise the needle on people's squick meter, because I'm an adult who needs someone to put on her shoes, and get her into bed at night, and they don't know what to do with the idea of me.** But you know what? That's their puzzle to deal with. I've got my own stuff to work on.

*Before Mandelbrot came up with an equation that explains their behavior, fractals were called "Mathematical Monsters."

**See also: a White cop's reaction to a young black man walking in predominantly white, wealthy, neighborhood.

Re: Some early-morning, highly caffinated, thoughts

[davidgillon]

On the other hand, the things that get defined as monstrous are also the things that defy categorization,*

Like the blank areas on early maps, marked 'Here be monsters'

Though the original Latin was 'Hic sunt leones' - 'here be lions'. I can live with that.

That's their puzzle to deal with.

Oh, yes indeed. Though unfortunately they will insist on blaming us for their failure to work out the answer!

Re: Some early-morning, highly caffinated, thoughts

[capri0mni]

Heh. When I was about 3-4 years old, my imagined alter-ego was "Acey, the Lioness." ... I forget whether the lioness evolved from my human imaginary friend named "Acey," or whether it was the other way around.

...Go ahead -- ask me who my favorite Doctor Who companion is. ;-)

But I do remember having a very soft and warm spot in my heart for monsters since I was at least that young. I remember lying on the carpet in my parents' bedroom, paging through Mother's text-heavy mythology books, until I found the illustrations of harpies, and dragons, gryphons, etc., long before I learned to read.

So I'm apt to take "You're a monster!" as a compliment.

Re: Some early-morning, highly caffinated, thoughts

[capri0mni]

they will insist on blaming us for their failure to work out the answer!

An analogy for that popped into my head this morning:

It's like having hunger pangs, because you haven't eaten in five hours. But instead of realizing: "Hey, I'm hungry -- I should grab a sandwich!" You blame the next stranger you see for stabbing you in the gut -- especially if that stranger is clearly "marked," somehow, as different than your tribe.