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

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...on top of all that you don‟t have language to express these concepts... you can say
that we don‟t have the language in English either, and that the disability movement
has had to create a lot of that and carve out new contextual meanings for words... but
the problem you have with languages like Urdu and Punjabi is all of the language we
have is in the negative... every single thing... even the words that are used to define
or to describe certain impairments are all based on what you can‟t do... so whereas
here we would talk about somebody as being visually impaired a literal translation of
that into Urdu and Punjabi would be can‟t see... or their eyes don‟t function... or
don‟t work... (l.3:86ff.)
Surinder, one of the women in the group, said that this difficulty is compounded by the
cultural silence about or avoidance of discussion of disability: „Because disabled people are
hidden away these words are just not used‟ (l.3:330) When even negative descriptions of
impairment are rarely heard because the subject is felt to be shameful, the activity of
generating an alternative discourse becomes an impossible task.
So often do they hear that they are good-for-nothing, know nothing and are incapable of
learning anything – that they are sick, lazy and unproductive – that in the end they
become convinced of their own unfitness (Friere, 1974:45).
Friere‟s words are given a chilling echo in Kailyn‟s:
You hear so often you‟re rubbish that you end up believing it... (l.3:331)
While this work involves addressing some extremely sensitive issues, Roshni was clear that
it was not a heavy experience all the time. She talked about the way in which the women
involved frequently used it as a safe space within which to sound off (l.3:248):
everyone‟s up and out there... and a bit loud and a bit silly... and not very p.c... but
learning a lot... and learning in a very different way... (l.3:113)
It is not that the experience of being disabled is to be affirmed, but that an affirmative stance
taken in relation to the impaired self in the face of oppression can lead to immense
satisfaction. Towards the end of our discussion, Roshni talked about why she values the
opportunity of coming together with other disabled people. While people may have had very
different life experiences, her view is that:
...because all of you have that one shared experience of that discrimination, as it
were... so you are able to connect with it and share it... but at the same time, by