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

When I speak of tensions I mean something like the almost constant underlying state of
uncertainty experienced by many disabled people in relation to how they are being perceived
and received by others around them; something like the easily-awakened awareness of the
likelihood that they are being watched and found wanting, or seen as deficient, incompetent
and unfortunate. Tensions are experienced by disabled people in the knowledge that other
people avoid contact with them because they are disabled, as if somehow their impairment
was contagious or as if being seen with them would be a cause of embarrassment. They are
experienced in the discomfort that being pitied or spoken down to can arouse, a sensation
that can be experienced anytime any place, in the company of family members or others
barely known. They can be experienced in terms of being unsure about whether to be
forthright about access requirements or whether to keep silent and pretend there is nothing
wrong for fear of being considered a nuisance. Tensions are involved in disabled people‟s
uncertainty about whether to be assertive in owning their own needs and opinions or whether
just to shut up and put up with second-rate treatment for fear of upsetting people or being
regarded as needy and demanding. Tensions are there when complete strangers tell disabled
people that they are an inspiration just for getting on with things everybody else does all the
time; and in situations where they know they are being watched as if they are freak show
exhibits. Tensions can involve a more or less constant sense of guardedness or wariness
about how to respond within interactions, leading perhaps either to compliance with the
expectations and wishes of others or to the development of a hardened public face which
presents an indifference to the way one is treated. All of these can have a profound impact on
the ways disabled people feel about themselves.
Tensions are experienced when encountering what Cal Montgomery has described as:
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those little acts of degradation to which others subject us... those little reminders that
we need to know our place in the world (Montgomery, 2006:unpaged).
As Montgomery comments:
Every few hours I run up against people who feel free to remind me that I‟m their
inferior and that I should conform to whatever they‟ve decided „people like [me]‟ are
supposed to be like (Montgomery, 2006: unpaged).
The empirical evidence I use to develop and support my thesis involves data I have
generated using a variety of data collection tools, through a series of interviews,
conversations and observations carried out with sixteen disabled people from Fraserburgh to
Brighton, with Perthshire, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bonnyrigg, Whitley Bay, Liverpool,