Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

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.

Reply

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
18 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.