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

alienated but within which some are more fortunately positioned than others. However,
placing this remark alongside others, this seems unlikely:
129
I don‟t think it behoves disabled people to judge non-disabled people… er… on the
basis of the fact that they‟re not disabled and therefore can‟t possibly know and
empathise… er… I find that utterly ridiculous… er… because everybody has a life
experience… er… of bereavement… divorce… sense of loss… for example… and...
you know, these things can affect… kind of… yes, of course they don‟t know what
it‟s like to be disabled… they don‟t know what it‟s like not to hear… why would
they… because it hasn‟t happened to them… but to say they can‟t empathise with us
in a sensible manner is, I think, slightly ridiculous… of course, yes… of course
there‟s plenty of people who‟ll go “Oh, you poor soul!” (laughs) but that‟s just until
they get to know you for five minutes and then you start speaking to them normally
and then they start having a conversation and they forget (l.245ff.)
Anne suggests there is a sense in which the experience of impairment can be likened to
bereavement, divorce or loss. She suggests that non-disabled people are able to empathise
with disabled people by sensitively relating the experience of impairment to their own
negative experiences. Rather than representing a radical understanding of both the disabled
and non-disabled subject positions as social roles, Anne‟s statement re-emphasises a view of
impairment as personal tragedy.
People who don‟t get it
Why can‟t they see it… they‟re looking behind it, underneath it, above it… it‟s right
in front and they can‟t see it… why... (l.1:167f.)
Surinder expresses a sense of exasperation at the fact that so often people in her life who
might be expected to understand and be sensitive to her issues and experiences simply get it
wrong. They just do not seem to „get it‟. Sarah talks about the ways in which lack of
understanding can distort and spoil friendships:
In the past few years I‟ve had some really good friendships that I‟ve just ended
because I just felt that it‟s too much work trying to explain what my disability… cos
there were a few people who just sort of like… were nice to me, but I didn‟t really
feel they were nice to me because of me… they were just nice to me because they
felt sorry for me… and I just thought I don‟t want to even go down that road… so it