The Social Construction of Disability - Moodle

~ The Rejected Bodyferences in ability between someone who can walk, or see, or hear, andsomeone who cannor would be no more significant than the differences inahility among people who can walk, see, or hear. Not everyone who is notdisabled now can play basketball or sing in a choir, but everyone who is notdisabled now can participate in Sports or games and make art, and that sortof general ability should be the goal in de constructing disability.I talk about accessibility and ability rather than independence or integrationbecause I think that neither independence nor integration is always anappropriate goal for people with disabilities. Some people cannot live independentlybecause they will always need a great deal of help fromcaregivers," and some people with disabilities, for example the Deaf, donot want to be integrated into non-disabled society; they prefer their own,separate social life. Everyone should, however, have access to opportumties todevelop their abilities, to work, and to participate in the full range of publicand private activities available to the rest of society.3 ~Disability as DifferenceSociologist Erving GofTman '51963 book Stigma: Notes on the Mcnuqemeut (,fSpoiled Identity is still the most influential descr ipt i on of the processes ofstigm,atization. Goffman frequently uses disabilities as examples of stigmas,which has increased the influence of his book on those attentpting t ounderstand the social devaluing of people with disabilities AlthoughCoffman's work contains Significant illsights that apply to the experience (Ifdisability, I believe that his lumping together all sources of stigma, whichcauses him tu overgeneralize, prevents him from sedng SUllie crucialaspects of the stigmas of illness and disability. In addition, because he doesnot question the social 'norms' that stigmatize people with disabilities, hetends to adopt a patronizing tone in speaking of people who do not meetthem, and to belittle and underestimate their efforts to live by different'norms.'let us look first at how Goffman characterizes stigma:~ocThree grossly different t)pes of stigma may be nu-ntioncd. First thereare the abominations of the body--the various physical deformities Nextthere are the blemishes of individual character perceived as weak will,domineering or unnatural passions, treacher JUS and rigid behefs. and dishouesrv.. Fiually there are the tribal stigma. of race, nation, andreligion, these being stigma that can be transmitted through ]llleages andequally contaminate all members of a family. In all of these various