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

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191 eating and munching away... not going out running or whatever... you really admire people like that... (l.2:125ff.) Ali‟s admiration for the determination of Paralympian athletes involves a comparison which recognises his own good fortune (you realize how lucky you are... to have those legs that other people might not have...) and engagement within disciplinary discourse around his own behaviour (while you‟re sitting at home... eating and munching away... not going out running or whatever...). The association of the Paralympics with a triumph over tragedy narrative is reflected in the following statement from the Paralympics.com website: Paralympians... are people who have overcome their disability and have gone on to represent their country at the highest level of disability and wheelchair sport (Paralympics.com, 2004: unpaged). Praise and respect is given to those who have overcome „their disability‟: they have gone on to represent their country at the highest level. Implied also is the insignificance of those who accept their impairments. The idea of the distinctness of „the person‟ and „the disability‟ or, in this case, „the athlete‟ and „the disability‟, as if the two can and should be considered separately, is repeated here: While the Paralympics Games focus on the athlete, not the disability, spectators cannot help being inspired by the spirit of these talented men and women (Edgate, 2004: unpaged). Impairment is to be overlooked, while the true heroism of the athlete is to be admired. Yet even so, we are reminded, it is difficult not to wonder at what these „talented men and women‟ can do in spite of their afflictions. As spectacle, the Paralympics testify to the spirit of heroic individualism and make it difficult and confusing to think of disability as a structural relationship. The endless regurgitation of a medical model view of disability, materialised at a cultural level through the recycling of the triumph over tragedy stereotype, is a highly effective way of ensuring that people with impairments reject impairment as a valid source of identity. Describing the term „sports personality‟ as „a contradiction in terms‟, Charles comments on his perception that, on those rare occasions when an actual disabled person is sought by the media to comment on disability issues, it is usually a disabled sportsperson:
192 think about it… if it was… say there was an international issue and a foreign country was coming to Britain for comment, you wouldn‟t ask a footballer, would you… you wouldn‟t ask any sports personality… you‟d go to a politician or a writer or some other social commentator… and yet all we get are bloody… (l.2:562ff.) Charles‟ point is that non-disabled sports personalities are not generally turned to for their sophisticated levels of insight on issues other than sport. Yet when it comes to disability, it is disabled sports stars who are asked for their thoughts. Pathetic victims Surinder discussed her portrayal in a number of newspaper photographs taken while she was involved in a 2006 media campaign for the MS Society. Considering a photograph which was printed three times in one edition of The Glasgow Herald (once in small detail on the front page, once in small and once in large detail on a later page), she exclaims: Oh my goodness, he made me sit on the floor and … and the way I‟m sort … the way I‟ve got my hands on the black stick which is slanting … erm … and then my head is slanting … er … and it just all portrays the full image of feel sorry for this person… feel sympathy for this person because it‟s … (l.2:24ff.) The construction of Surinder‟s photographic image appears to have involved careful plannning to ensure pathos. Surinder recalls her feelings of discomfort at the time the photo was taken: I think the photo itself … I mean, I remember it being taken at the time and thinking, I don‟t want you to do this… and I should have actually said that, I should have said no, I don‟t want to lean to one side, cos that leaning to one side… portrays an image of someone who‟s looking for…you know, I‟m looking for pity … (l.2:38ff.) The text accompanying these photos gives a similarly bleak impression of Surinder‟s life: For Surinder, even the simple task of filling her glass with water or chopping onion require enormous concentration and effort… negotiating a doorway often results in a bruise for the 38-year-old from Glasgow while a trip to the shops or a short walk along the beach can cause such fatigue that she becomes bedridden for several days…
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A thesis submitted in partial fulfi
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Abstract I offer a critical explora
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Contents Introduction p.1 Chapter 1
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When I speak of tensions I mean som
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Sutherland, Richard Rieser and Mich
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Chapter 1: Disability, Self and Ide
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8 Impairment: any loss or abnormali
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unceasing flow of representations,
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a daughter, a Scot, a West Coaster,
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matters of social significance beco
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16 Which individuality a human bein
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In Elias‟ view it is only when th
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20 [I‟m] a normal person. The onl
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acknowledgement of the processes by
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This involves a demand for recognit
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Habitus A useful insight can be dra
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as to have no impact on the rest of
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general public acceptance of the po
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32 the vast and deep injustices tha
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modernity has involved many attempt
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36 the affirmation of unique ways o
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described rather than having to rev
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Personal Experience On April 6, 197
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1100 boys from all over South Bucki
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mother did her best to discourage t
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46 mind, but to the society in whic
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ut is experienced in the terms of s
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Chapter 3: Methodology Why am I res
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52 developing a theory, usually bas
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Hamer expresses a view here that
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nor is it satisfied with the interp
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Why not grounded theory? 58 The int
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60 We set aside our prejudgements,
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events for disabled peoples‟ orga
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populations (Atkinson and Flint, 20
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terms of other groups of individual
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Jennie, a woman in her mid-thirties
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(Kusenbach, 2003) in which I accomp
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to me. I had expected interviewing
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74 that we go about the daily neces
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Participants returned the scripts r
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l = line 1: = interview number 24ff
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80 I‟m being pushed into a subjec
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The emergence of a sense of differe
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84 I saw the other disabled kids an
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work and independent living, the ch
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88 all the time we were extolled to
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The theme is repeated that being in
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Hazel struggled to recall any other
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94 to one of my aunties‟ for a pa
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The sense of standing in isolation,
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Rose‟s husband suggests the possi
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100 they feel nervous to ask “Wel
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102 extent, you know, I spent… un
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104 pain…” (laughs)… “Do yo
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ound the hat rack‟. Her relief at
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108 definite contexts of meanings c
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What I find compelling in Thomas‟
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within different discourses. While
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My revised definition of disability
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Chapter 5: Disability as Role Intro
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Person-first thinking is supported
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120 minicom… but these are just
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A different reason A related, thoug
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124 never mind…” does not impro
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126 abnormal, if you like, and more
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less powerful social group. Indeed,
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130 was a case of I just cut off al
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132 I can remember having an argume
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134 there‟s never any representat
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people regard other disabled people
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138 earth haven‟t you had a shag
Page 145 and 146: 140 Sadie used to do amazing things
Page 147 and 148: Lola recalls that she was regarded
Page 149 and 150: 144 weekly… I get on really fine
Page 151 and 152: 146 situations together… erm… c
Page 153 and 154: In gaining an understanding of the
Page 155 and 156: however, their descriptions of havi
Page 157 and 158: 152 more often than not they are me
Page 159 and 160: to negative subject positioning, wi
Page 161 and 162: significance of impairment, this ha
Page 163 and 164: As someone with adult experience of
Page 165 and 166: argues, by the repetitive, structur
Page 167 and 168: 162 psychologically speaking, this
Page 169 and 170: usually involve blind characters be
Page 171 and 172: 166 other indecent part of it … a
Page 173 and 174: It begins to appear that the proble
Page 175 and 176: 170 on Direct Payments or Individua
Page 177 and 178: 172 increasingly becomes more impor
Page 179 and 180: Anne‟s statement here reflects th
Page 181 and 182: 176 Society really does view all di
Page 183 and 184: Unsurprisingly, I reject Ouellette
Page 185 and 186: Initially Ali confesses to watching
Page 187 and 188: as „awful‟ - we can see again t
Page 189 and 190: 184 you‟ve been brought up and ho
Page 191 and 192: debate the choices that are display
Page 193 and 194: 188 media stereotypes - of race, ag
Page 195: 190 I didn‟t start noticing them
Page 199 and 200: William Stothers, who describes him
Page 201 and 202: Opportunities for disabled people t
Page 203 and 204: 198 part of society watching the te
Page 205 and 206: Chapter 7: Disability in Everyday L
Page 207 and 208: always somebody worse off‟ natura
Page 209 and 210: lasted several hours and others onl
Page 211 and 212: caught by something else she wanted
Page 213 and 214: “At the moment you‟re looking a
Page 215 and 216: The camera has already focussed upo
Page 217 and 218: Given that Cumberbatch and Negrine
Page 219 and 220: What‟s going on? Emma Bowler rece
Page 221 and 222: 216 characters in that that were re
Page 223 and 224: While he described himself as takin
Page 225 and 226: experienced by Donald as he waited
Page 227 and 228: 222 get back to Dundee... will Angu
Page 229 and 230: my feet were broken I spent three m
Page 231 and 232: are looking maybe they‟re not but
Page 233 and 234: Bus from Brunswick Square to North
Page 235 and 236: Toby Miller and Alec McHoul discuss
Page 237 and 238: Erin was waiting in the chairs insi
Page 239 and 240: Or if I do I want to be employed do
Page 241 and 242: crammed bookcases and decorated wit
Page 243 and 244: 238 society, er … like, life... I
Page 245 and 246: 240 (l.3:503ff.) While the transcri
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sense of solidarity and purpose tha
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244 sharing it you gain so much str
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space (l.3:140ff.) It was only duri
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248 Well... the point is the way I
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250 Sartre describes how the act of
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ought their children along. Neither
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Conclusion I conclude by re-visitin
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256 dealings with the world is when
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of the affirmative model will hold
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References Access 4 U 2 (2009) Term
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Burchardt, T. (2005) The education
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Elias, N. (2000) The Civilising Pro
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Klages, M. (1999) Woeful Affliction
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Paralympics.com (2004) Paralympian
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Stevens, S. (2008) „Movement Does
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Wilson, T. (1995) Watching Televisi
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274 Appendix B: Email Extracts I ha
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I first of all must say that I thin
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The discussion, comments and observ
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280 Appendix D: Themes arising from
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10. Political identity as disabled
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