The problem with normal obviously, or perhaps not so much, is that "normal" in this society is perceived as "correct" or "proper"or "right" and everything else becomes or is seen as "incorrect," "improper," etc.
I'm blind and there is nothing wrong with me being blind; there is also nothing wrong with being sighted. They are simply two different physical traits, like blonde or brown or red hair. While one may be favored by a society, that doesn't make the other colors of hair wrong or less than. At the same time, our society has made it seem so via representations of beauty, advertisements for hair products, etc. I don't need to be nor do I desire to be sighted and I know this is a difficult notion to fathom for most average people.
My problem isn't being blind; my problem is I live in a society that assumes I can see and makes little or no accommodations for those who can't so that we can live our lives without extra added expenses (monetary and otherwise). So, my problem isn't that I can't read print. My problem is that manufacturers of the texts refuse to make things available for me to read in computer formats (something they put the printed word in before it is turned into ink based text) and the government does not believe it is cost effective to teach people (even blind children) Braille in this country (90 to 97% of all blind people in this country are functionally illiterate - they can't see ink-based texts and they can't read Braille). My problem isn't that I can't drive; it's that this society does not value public transportation. My problem isn't that I can't work; it's that no one is likely to hire me even with all of my degrees, job skills, experience, etc. (there is a 70% unemployment rate amongst the EMPLOYABLE Disabled people in this country --"employable" in sociological terms means that one is not only capable of working but actively seeking employment). And so on, and so on.
To put it another way, I'm also left handed and in this society left-handedness is seen as "wrong". I know this because when I enter a classroom, if I'm lucky, one whole desk will be for someone like me (god forbid there be two of us in the room at once!), scissors are made to cut one way, when I was growing up I got smacked with a ruler every time I picked up a pencil, I'm the one who has to make sure I'm sitting in the proper place at the table so I don't bump elbows with the "normals", and so on and so on. There is nothing wrong with being left handed anymore than there is anything wrong with being right handed or ambidextrous; left handedness simply isn't the average way of doing things and that doesn't make it wrong and I shouldn't have to change or be made to feel inferior but there's rub.
In this society, certain things, certain people, are made to feel inferior not because it is meant to be or because it has to be but rather because we chose to make it so at some point in time and now believe it to be "normal." In sociology, this is called a social construct; it's an arbitrary notion about something (good or bad) that appears or feels natural and this notion creates real social consequences. Disability, like race, gender, sex, etc. is a social construct. It is a made up category that changes across time, space and place, it has the appearance of naturalness or that it has always been that way and this category has real social consequences for those who are identified as disabled and those who are not. After all, there is advantage given without merit for those who are perceived within a particular norm just as there is disadvantage given (also without merit) to those who are perceived as abnormal.
Carolyn Tyjewski
Cultural Studies Program
University of California, Davis
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2 comments:
I think your points are exactly what Wendell is getting at.
My problem isn't being blind; my problem is I live in a society that assumes I can see and makes little or no accommodations for those who can't so that we can live our lives without extra added expenses (monetary and otherwise).
You also cannot change your condition, but society can change. We can learn how to accommodate, or even just how to understand, and we should. On the other hand, should more research be put into different programs and aids for conditions, or into "fixing conditions?" I can't say that I've made up my mind, or that this question has a black/white right/wrong answer, but it is interesting to question what society's and medicine's role should be. Which should we work on: understanding and solutions for living with the disability? or solutions for the disability? Where is the middle ground and which are we currently working towards? It seems like neither...and that seems like the worst to me. You say you haven't experienced changed attitudes or accommodations, so would you want society to instead "fix" your disability or fix their perceptions?
(from Carolyn)
Susan and I don't exactly agree and are points are slightly different;
whether this has to do with our fields of study or not I don't know but
our philosophies and perspectives, while similar to a degree, are not the
same.
Suggesting that I can't change my "condition" assumes that I can't (there
are quite a few types of blindness that can be "cured") and implies that
I would want to change if I could. It reminds me of a student who said
that the reason one shouldn't be racist or hate someone because of their
color was because the person of color couldn't help they were that
particular race, that particular color. Both positions assume that being
x (Blind, African American, Deaf, Native American, etc.) are "wrong" and
that the "norm" (sighted, white, etc.) is correct, proper, the desired
position of all.
To throw the question/situation back at you. You're female (or male);
you can't change your condition but society can change. We can learn how
to accommodate you, or even just how to understand you, and we should. On
the other hand, should more research be put into different programs and
aids for conditions or fixing conditions like yours? And before you
say, "This is a preposterous hypothetical," hear me out.
Relatively speaking, these notions were said not so long ago about a lot
of different groups (women, people of color, homosexuals, etc.) and,
arguably, are still being said today. After all, one need only look at
cosmetic surgery's notion of fixing the folds in certain people's eyes,
the shape of some people's noses, or haircare products that change one's
hair (i.e. perms and coloring), or projects related to the Human Genome
Project that have attempted to isolate the "gay" gene to see this
commentary/question in play. So, the hypothetical isn't exactly a
hypothetical. It's just slightly less likely that this society, at this
moment in time, will decide tomorrow that (to paraphrase Alice Walker)
you were never meant to be here. But that could change.... So, do you
want to be fixed?
I can't speak for you or anyone else; I'm sure there a plenty of people
who feel that there is something wrong with them merely because, at this
moment in time, in this society, they, for one reason or another, are
defined as "wrong." And, because they've bought into societal notions,
they define themselves as wrong and in need of fixing (internalized
oppression is a horrible thing to see in anyone).
W.E.B. DuBois wrote in Souls of Black Folk, "Between me and the other
world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings
of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All,
nevertheless, flutter round it.... How does it feel to be a problem?"
Although I believe there is a problem, I cannot accept the conclusion
that I am the problem. Therefore, there is nothing the medical
establishment needs to fix about me. It may sound arrogant but so be it.
I don't need society's help. I certainly don't need it's understanding.
I need it to stop intentionally getting in my way for no good reason.
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