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

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more often than not they are met with patronising tolerance rather than with
respectful acknowledgement as equals (Cameron, 2009:391).
While it cannot be denied that many access improvements to public environments have been
made during the first decade of the 21 st Century, my suggestion is that the role played by
disabled people within society remains relatively unchanged. Greater visibility of people
with impairments does not necessarily signify greater equality so much as the refinement of
disciplinary techniques within disabling society. This will be the central argument of my
next chapter, on media representation of disability.
As I was nearing the conclusion of my first draft of this chapter in autumn 2009, the
Disability Arts singer Karen Sheader emailed me recordings of two of her recent songs. In
„That‟s the way‟ (Sheader, 2008). Sheader sings frankly of a number of disabled characters
who, no matter how hard they have tried to be or do what other people require of them, keep
finding doors shut in their faces. Embarrassed apologies are made about why they are
considered not good enough. In her chorus she sings:
That‟s the way it is for some people
Some of us were fashioned that way
That‟s the way it is for some people
Some people keep turning away
Sheader‟s song „Oblivion‟ (Sheader, 2008) echoes Oliver and Barnes above. The language of
the disabled people‟s movement has been incorporated within contemporary social discourse
but in a way that offers little prospect for real change:
People say we have lost our language
Stolen from us by a greater force
How could we have made it turn out different
How could we have steered a different course
Sheader expresses frustration at the fact that dominant culture always dominates. While the
language of rights for disabled people which originated in the disabled people‟s movement
has been taken up by the charities and professions, repackaged services for people with
impairments remain rooted within the same assumptions. This is brilliantly illustrated in a
recent story in The Scotsman newspaper: