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

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mainstream culture and the way it portrays us, it is almost inevitable that people will
have a level of false consciousness around impairment and disability… and around
their own experiences in society… right… what really annoys me, though, is it‟s not
actually inevitable… you don‟t have to live in that state of false consciousness for all
your life… you can break free from it… (l.1:861ff.)
While other participants act out the disabled role by resisting identification as disabled, Mary
rejects the disabled role as ideological imposition. In affirming her identity as a woman with
a visual impairment, she transcends the disabled role by refusing to recognise impairment as
something to distance herself from. This does not mean that all of a sudden her life is
wonderful, but it does mean she can understand her situation in a new light.
Unwanted interference
The paradoxical nature of disability is reflected in the fact that, while the experience of
isolation has been identified as a major source of tension, so also is unwanted interference.
This can be experienced in many ways: receiving sympathy from relatives or family
members; pitying glances, comments and overly helpful offers of assistance from strangers;
professional officiousness and condescension.
Rose talks of:
an aunty of my husband‟s who always comes on the phone and says (in overly
sympathetic tones) “How are you dear? And how are you managing? Oh, you‟re so
brave…” (l.1.615ff.)
In these remarks, her ex-husband‟s aunt re-states the respective roles involved in being
disabled and non-disabled. Rose finds herself cast in, and unable to move beyond, the
identity of sufferer. I did not ask Rose but, as she is in her fifties, presumably her ex-
husband‟s aunt will be at least in her seventies. In terms of social roles, this involves a
reversal of the relationship she might ordinarily be expected to have with an older lady.
Helen talks of receiving what she considers inappropriate sympathy from her grandmother:
...it‟s also seen as really tragic if you‟ve got something wrong with you when you‟re
young… and the thing is, to me, I don‟t… I can‟t imagine being another person,
because this is all I know… I don‟t see it as a tragedy, I just see it as a fact of life
that I‟ve got to get on with… and I do not want people feeling sorry for me… cos
that doesn‟t help anyone, it‟s just annoying… I am who I am, and you going “Oh,