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

less powerful social group. Indeed, given the nature of ideology it is likely they will be
experienced this way. The submission of people with impairments is most often not a
deliberate concession to the „brute force‟ of non-disabled people, but resides, rather
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in the unconscious fit between their habitus and the field they operate in. It is lodged
deep inside the socialized body (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 2007:24).
It would be wrong, however, to represent Ash as being entirely comfortable in the disabled
role. Some of his statements might suggest this is the case:
…if I didnae become disabled I wouldnae have… met all these people I‟ve met at
Bonnybank Centre… and you do realise how grateful… (l.1:231ff.)
Other remarks, however, suggest that at a deeper level he is aware of the fact that he is acting
an imposed role:
I did think I had to slot into that wee box of being different… I don‟t know… some
folks don‟t like to say that, but you were fitting into a box, you were different… I
think I‟m in a box, I‟m definitely in a box, disabled and non-disabled people…
(l.1:152ff.)
Anne also offered a more sympathetic view of the intentions of non-disabled people when
they unexpectedly intervene in the lives of people with impairments:
I feel quite sorry sometimes for non-disabled people who just don‟t quite get it
right… and all they‟re trying to do is make a connection… or they are trying to do
what they think is right… and all they need is a little education… and I know plenty
of people… wheelchair users, for example, where somebody‟s come along to the car
park and they‟ve just put themselves in the car, and they‟re about to put the chair in
behind them… and somebody will come along and stick the chair in the boot for
them… you know… trying to be helpful… and that‟s not a bad person… it‟s just
somebody who… er… might be a bit stupid (laughs)… whatever… you know…
(l.1:483ff.)
It might be considered that Anne recognises non-disabled people, too, are involved in
playing a role (the non-disabled role) which they no more regard as a role than people with
impairments consciously regard being disabled. It is possible to suggest that Anne recognises
that non-disabled people are as much actors in a socially constructed reality in which all are