Disability Rhetoric

Disability studies at its most basic definition is the study of disability, which goes further in depth into the different life experiences of disabiled people, the nature of “normal”, the necessity of accommodation, accessibility and accurate representation, and the social, economic and systemic implications of being disabled. Applying these lenses to the disabled experiences reveals a lot of the individual facets that make up these experiences, and also how challenging smaller things could be. This is interesting too because in a way I am applying a lens to a lens itself. Disability and ability is a lens that I love applying to stories, it tends to reveal a lot about characters and the world that they occupy, although unfortunately there is a lot of negative representation out there as well of disability. I’ve been noticing a lot of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, or Frequency Bias, where I notice a lot more often things I previously only gave a passing glance at. Accessibility, accommodation, social norms, and many other aspects that we’ve explored in this class so far, have all become observed more in my own life. 

As we move forward in the class, I want to look more into how the standard of today came into being. What made people think we needed a “normal” and “abnormal”? Additionally, if it weren’t for the existence of normal and abnormal, in what ways would the definition of disability change, what would the disabled experience become? Would it change or stay the same? As the world has been built and expanded upon, and with populations increasing exponentially and countries and laws having to shift to accommodate so many people, I want to learn more about the specific histories of individual disabilities. How did so many different people get left behind, lost in the cracks as society adapted and progressed forwards? And what ways could change be brought about to help these individuales? What role has capitalism and its ideologies played in this? How different is the disabled experience in other regions of the world? I also am looking for ways to better represent disabilities. As someone who wishes to author several works, I want to be able to portray disability accurately, without falling into any harmful pitfalls or stereotypes that such perspectives usually fall into. I know how amazing it could be to see yourself in a piece of media, especially if you don’t usually see yourself represented often or accurately. I want to be able to provide that for someone, as an author, and what I could do best is research and learn more about these specific identities. 

Sexuality

The intersectionality of sexuality and disability is really fascinating. I was at first hooked by Robert McRuer’s section in the Keywords for Disability Studies reading, where he explored, “What Foucault understood as ‘proliferation of discourse,’ ‘ability’ and ‘disability,’ like ‘sexuality’, materialized as supposedly knowable entities. The emergence and naturalization of these discourses positioned sexuality and ability not only as culturally and historically specific modes of experience but also as cross-temporal and in some cases even universal components of what it means to be a human being” (McRuer 167). In a terrifying sort of way, sexuality and a person’s sexual abilities could quite literally be used by others to determine a person’s ability to be, well a person. Disabled people often face a stigma surrounding their own sexuality, something that is a very personal topic of one’s identity. McRuer explores these dramatic stigmas more as well. “Like ‘homosexuals’ more generally, disabled people were subject to pathologization and normalization. ‘Abnormal’ sexuality, for instance, was understood to be the cause of, or at least be related to, illness and disability, such that ‘abnormal’ embodiment was often understood to be accompanied by ‘abnormal’ desired and (consequently) an ‘abnormal’ sexuality A long standing belief that certain disabled people have ‘excessive’ sexual desires and thus an excessive sexuality emerges from this linkage” (McRuer 168)

This is particular, coupled with and heteronormativity puts a lot of pressure on quite literally everyone, even if a person is aware of it or not. The implications of this analysis is further expanded upon as McRuer explains it connects heteronormativity to an abled individual. “Discourses of homosexuality manterialized a ‘new species’ of a person. This new ‘species’ was increasingly regulated by the state over the course of the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century (Canaday 2009). Heterosexuality in turn, solidified as the identity of the normal and healthy dominant group, and ‘hetersexuals’ began to understand themselves as such” (McRuer 168). This connection intertwines queer and disabled communities together, especially as we look at the historical oppression of disabled people via reproduction. Both the queer community and disabled community face many dangers in the face of the moral debate regarding eugenics. Additionally, looking at the history of queer identities and how they were often still are identified as mental illnesses, the two communities intersect even more. 

Yet, it is important to acknowledge that these two identities, while they intersect, do not dictate each other. My reading from Disability Visibility, written by Keshia Scott, explored how her blindness often led to people assuming that her asexual identity was soely determined by her disability. She rejects this notion, reaffirming that the two led to a very unique life experience and perspective, but that her sexuality is not a product of her disability “I already faces discrimination and ableist views from society in so many other ways; I couldn’t bear it if my sexuality ended up being determined by disability” (Scott 127). The topic of sexuality and disability has lots of overlap, which we got to look at a lot in this class recently, and getting to see the ways that they interact with one another was very eye opening.

Beauty

Somewhat expanding on the role of sexual ability being determined by abled bodies, I want to look more at how beauty and disability interact. Specifically with the rise of the “ideal body” image that social media and the entertainment industry has developed and perpetuated. I’ve linked two articles from Time and BBC that talk about research around social media and body image, but there have been many physiological studies that determine that social media has negatively impacted many people’s self-image. The idealized human body has changed over the years. Through my own observation, the development of tools like photo editing and face tuning, as well as an emphasis on advertising the self, or displaying the self on social media — usually done with perfect lighting makeup and filters to create an unattainable image — has negatively impacted the way that we see ourselves today. Beauty standards have always been arbitrary throughout history, and it is now when the human mind has adapted to perceiving the human body to be these unattainable images of perfection that our views of reality are distorted. Physical disabilities and the confidence they bring to the table when faced with these standards face a heightened sense of unattainability. Like McRuer suggests, the ideal — or at the very least typical — body is abled. On top of this, many disabled individuals, with their individual perspectives, often question the standards of beauty, especially when they as individuals might not be able to, nor want to do the things required to reach the standards of beauty. For instance, Keshia Scott explains how, “I didn’t start shaving my underarms and legs until I was seventeen. I did it for the worst reason: because my friends were doing it. My legs have not had that soft, smooth, untouched feel ever since, […] I will never forget the feeling of shame of not being the ‘right kind of beautiful’ when a friend of my brother asked me why I didn’t shave — and then proceeded to tell me that I really, really should” (Scott 122). This really struck me, and made me consider how people may also have difficulty shaving due to sensory overload, or who may be judges for scars, weight, and wheelchair, and other physical impairments. 

Spaces- Accessibility and Acceptance

One of the most resonating readings for this class was the S. E. Smith reading about spaces made for and by disabled people, and how her first experience occupying a crip space that wasn’t a hospital was. “It is very rare, as a disabled person, that I have an intense sense of belonging, of being not just tolerated or included in a space, but actively owning it” (Smith 272) She explains that crip space is usually hospitals, which as a more clinical space was very different from witnessing a show made for disabled people, by disabled people. Where disability is the norm. “Some can remember the precise moment when they were in a space inhabited entirely by people like them for the first time. For disabled people, those spaces are often hospitals, group therapy sessions, and other clinical settings. That is often by design; we are kept isolated from one another, as though more than two disabled people in the same room will start a riot or make everyone feel awkward (Smith 272) But in the theater, abled people are the minority. It’s common for her to see canes and wheelchairs, ASL interpreters, a blind audience member traces their hands over a model of the stage. 

The key here is that disability is not just seen, but celebrated and embraced. There’s a sense of pride in these gatherings. The show caters to disabled people and their experiences. What also stood out was how, “It isn’t that nondisabled people are unwelcome at this dance performance. But the space has not been tailored to their needs and designed to seamlessly accommodate them, they stand out. The experience pushes the boundaries of their understanding and expectations” (Smith 273). The phrase “tailored to their needs” really stands out here, as in most of the world, space is often created with nondisabled people in mind. So occupying a space where your needs are met, and you are accepted and celebrated, is so very important and beautiful.

Here are two articles on beauty as its presented online, and how it has lowered self esteem: