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egiffordsmith's picture

Enabling Rather than Disabling

On page 5 of "Culture as Disability", McDermott asserts, "When, how, and why: these are, of course, deeply cultural issues, and depending on how a physical difference is noticed, identified, and made consequential, the lives of those unable to do something can be either enabled or disabled by those around them." I found this quote particularly intriguing because it emphasized the idea that if a disability goes unnoticed or made consequential, like deafness in Martha's Vineyard, it does not have the power, or rather, we are unable to give it the power to disable. I liked this idea because it reminded me of the "people-first language" we try to use and promote at the camp I work at over the summer. While it is product of a larger movement in advocacy groups for people with disabilities, we try to model similar ideas at camp. To use "people-first language" means to distinguish people with differences (both with disabilities and without) by what we all have inherently in common - we are people. This reminded me of the ideas presented in "Culture as Disability" because while it does still acknowledge that people have differences or disabilities, it takes a step in the direction of enabling people rather than labeling them in a certain way that disables their ability to lead their own lives.

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