A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Etheses - Queen Margaret ...

A different reason
A related, though very different, reason for avoiding identifying as disabled is given by
Mary:
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Should we view ourselves, if we are disabled… as that being a positive term… and I
don‟t think we should… erm… cos to me disability and racism are the same
things… you know… do I want… if I were black, right, or B.M.E.… would I want
to say oh, I‟m a person who experiences racism and only to be defined in those
terms… no, I don‟t want to be defined by the horrible thing that happens to me…
that‟s why I don‟t particularly want to be defined as being a disabled person… a
person with an impairment, yeah… I‟m cool about that… (l.1.575ff.)
Mary recognises disability as a social relationship but states this is something she feels
uncomfortable about taking on as an identity. What makes this complicated is that while on
first sight it might appear as if some of what Mary is saying here is virtually the same as
what Anne, and Roshni earlier, have said, there are subtle differences. When Mary states that
she is „cool‟ about being recognised as a person with an impairment she is stating that she
feels fine about having her visual impairment considered a primary part of what makes her
Mary. She is not stating that she is a person first who happens to have a visual impairment,
but that to her being visually impaired is a valued part of who she is. When she states that „I
don‟t particularly want to be defined as a disabled person‟ she is making a statement from a
position which distinguishes between disability as imposed oppression and disability as
personal characteristic. She rejects disability from a position which defines disability as
oppression rather than from a position that wishes to downplay the significance of living
with impairment.
The important distinction to be noted is that, in rejecting disability identity conceived in
personal terms, Anne and Roshni comply with the requirements of the disabled role. In
conceiving of this in social relational terms, Mary sets herself against these requirements.
You‟re asking me how I feel about other disabled people… actually, most of them
are a fucking pain in the arse… you know, that‟s how I feel… all they want to talk
about is their own experiences… within the medical model… and, generally
speaking, what terrible lives they have… right… why do I get so annoyed about this
is because it never moves on from that… I think there‟s a real level of false
consciousness… in the majority of disabled people… now… this is where I‟m
going to have to be nicer and more understanding… given the dominance of