Mingus
Dcook-tulane.edu
SoPAAnthbody2020Disabilityandthebody-1.pptxThe Abject Body
Abjection: “the state of being cast off”
Outcast, expelled, marginalized
The process that separates from one's environment what "is not me"
Disability as abject rejected body
The deviant body : that which departs from normal expectations in behavior, appearance or function
India has a population of one billion and approximately 70 million are disabled (Ghai, 2002).
A 1987 survey in China conservatively accounted for 51.64 million disabled people (Shen et al., 2008).
In the USA, 19.3% or 49.7 million of the ‘civilian
Disabled people are the largest minority group
What does that mean then for our understanding of disability?
Disability as a category contains enormous diversity and sub-cultures
Deaf culture
Acquired v. Congenital
“Wheelchair Life”
Disability statistics
What is Disability?
Medical model (disability as lack/pathology
Inherent in and of the body
Social model (impairment vs. disability)
disability is social construction
Disability as a category of difference
Disability as “alternative ways of being in the world”
The normate is the veiled subject position of cultural self, the figure outlined by the array of deviant others whose marked bodies shore up the normate's boundaries. The term normate usefully designates the social figure through which people can represent themselves as definitive human beings.
“the freak” of 19th century: The making of the Other during colonial encounters
Victorian era in Europe (1837-1900) obsessed with taxonomy and classifications
The “freak” disrupted or transcended these boundaries.
male/female; animal/human
“what is it?” exhibit
Saartjie Baartman (Hottentot Venus)
Many of those exhibited in freak shows today would have what we now know as “disability”
“Eugenics isn’t a relic from World War II; it’s alive today, embedded in our culture, policies, and practices. It is imperative that experts and decision-makers include and collaborate with communities disproportionately impacted by systemic medical racism, ageism, and ableism, among other biases.”- Alice Wong
Reimagining Disability: Bodies of Resistance & Community
Acquired Disability
Migrants disabled by ‘La Bestia’
Rehabilitation after La Bestia
Adaptive Sports
Performance and Disability
Sins Invalid (Maori artist)
Alice Sheppard in DESCENT
Krip-Hop
