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

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internalised as the positive expression of the dignity of the subject... (Arditi and
Valentine, 1999:73).
While, then, there is much to be gained by identifying as disabled, I would suggest that there
is a need to regard disability identity as a strategic garb to be worn on a road towards the full
inclusion of people with impairments as equals within ordinary community life. Taking on a
disabled identity involves „turning back upon the stream of consciousness in which we are
immersed in everyday life‟ (Schutz, 1997:47). But it is an identity to be regarded as
describing not so much the impaired self as the social positioning of the impaired self. There
is an important difference between being positive about disabled people and being „positive
about disability‟ (Barking-Dagenham.gov.uk 2010: unpaged).
Acknowledgement
In considering ways in which the reification of disability may be avoided in the processes of
disability politics, so that the distinction between impairment and disability remains visible, I
want to draw on a conception of justice developed by Patchen Markell. Markell is critical of
ideas identifying social justice as rooted in the recognition of others‟ identities, and argues
that a firmer basis involves the acknowledgement by individuals of the finitude of self in the
face of unpredictability and uncertainty.
This is an approach which suggests a need for individuals to become critically aware of the
thoroughly social nature of the self and to reject the kinds of selves that long training has
produced. Addressing the ideal of recognition, Markell suggests this is anchored in:
the prospect of arriving at a clear understanding of who you are and of the nature of
the larger groups and communities to whom you belong, and of securing the
respectful recognition of these facts by others (Markell, 2003:12).
The supposition, he suggests, is that
mutual recognition of this sort would eliminate the obstacles of misunderstanding,
ignorance, and prejudice that alienate us from each other and ourselves, making it
possible for us to act in accordance with who we really are, and to do so with the
support rather than the resistance of our fellows (Markell, 2003:12).
We can see that in establishing the right to be valued as disabled people, disabled people
engaging in disability politics have made a claim to recognition as a social group that is
systematically disadvantaged. The ideal outcome of recognition of this claim would be