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

132
I can remember having an argument, the handicapped argument, and still saying
“My mum said…” (laughs) (l.1:622)
The evangelistic zeal Charles felt about the social model is described as „a head rush‟. Yet
the gospel message fell on ears that hear but do not understand, that listen but do not believe.
Charles says of his mother that „she still hasn‟t got it‟. The fact that she works as a carer with
disabled children compounds Charles‟ frustration. The idea that those closest to disabled
people might, by virtue of their closeness gain insight into the situation, is further diminished
by Charles‟ comment that:
My dad did say not so long ago “I don‟t know why they went away from
„spastic‟… Everyone knew what it meant…” (laughs…) (l.1:838ff.)
For Roshni, part of the problem of experiencing disability is that people with impairments
are compelled to conform to other people‟s expectations because, while these are the only
expectations voiced, there is perceived to be no other ways of going about things:
people from the (inverted commas) „normal‟ community will relate to you based
on what they understand disability to be… (l.1:800ff.)
Roshni feels that even people who she might hope would know her well do not, because in
relating to her they are imposing their own perceptions of impairment and disability,
perceptions which reflect a dominant model.
Bodies
...you think you know me, but you really, really don‟t… and I sometimes wonder to
what extent people actually do really, really get to know you as a disabled person,
because I think that there‟s so much beneath the surface that you‟re constantly
learning… in terms of how you manage yourself, in terms of how you relate to your
identity, how self-aware you are… that I think it does have quite a profound impact
on the nature of the relationships you form... (l.1:763ff.)
Participants frequently raised the issue of sex and relationships in terms of tensions
experienced in developing positive identities. There was a strongly expressed sense,
particularly among participants who have been disabled from a young age, that this had been