The Social Construction of Disability

Through the readings for Tuesday, I found it incredibly sad that people define themselves by comparing themselves to others.  People are afraid to be unique or different because of their fear of standing out.  Though many people do not care what others may think, a large majority, especially those of younger age, fear how others may describe them or what category they will be put into.  As stated in, "The Social Construction of Disability," any deviation from a society's conception of a normal or acceptable body is scorned.  In many societies, being average is ideal, which for many is an upsetting fate.  When it comes to disabilities, society does not accommodate for these people because of the association with criminal activity, mental incompetence, and sexual license.  As someone who was born "normal", and never had to deal with these stigmas and stereotypes, I cannot begin to understand how different my life would be.  I disagree with Wendall when she says that life would not be worth living because I feel that no matter how much harder life would be, I would no nothing else and thus I would try and do the best I could for myself.

I was made aware of the stigmas when that disabled people struggle with when applying for a job.  The statistic that 59% of the disabled population make less than $25,000 dollars a year while only 37% of the non disabled population makes $25,000 or less, particularly stuck out to me in this reading.  It is shallow how a disabled person may be plenty capable of performing the tasks required of a certain occupation, but the company will not go out of their way to accommodate the person.  An example of this may be a person in a wheelchair who wants to be a secretary but the company cannot give them an office on the first floor, or create ramps.  Even if you are already in a company and are in an accident, there is no flexibility in defining your disability.  You must either be fully disabled or fully capable, and these terms determine if you can work the full time or no time at all.  There is no such thing as partial disability which limits the amount of work available to those with disabilities.  

Overall, as much as society may want to break through their restrictions of what is normal and what isn't, it continues to stereotype against people and reinstate the distinction.  Wendall makes her point very clear in stating that society constructs disability and that it is not all biological.