disability metaphors

Marta Russell ap888 at lafn.org
Fri Sep 13 15:02:47 PDT 2002



>>
>
>It is a fact that one is deaf; it is a fact that one's skin is
>black. On that level there's no difference. However, "blackness" as
>a negative or inferior condition is historically constructed;
>deafness as representing a loss is not entirely historically
>constructed.

Deaf persons would beg to differ with you on that one. Chuck pointed out how some deaf persons see themselves as part of a culture. There was a study done about Martha's Vineyard I believe it was where the majority of persons there were deaf. It was the hearing persons who were in the minority. Guess what, the deaf did not miss hearing. Alexander Graham Bell and some other Nazis saw deaf culture as a threat so they began to try to outlaw sign language and to work towards a "cure" for deaf people. There is a history which you are not aware of here and I barely know it either, but it exists.


>Marta


>>Since there is no difference, the Deaf had/have to pass through their
>>"Celebration of Separate Culture", as Joseph Shapiro would say. In this
>>sense they have to go through a process of "autonomy". Pride is part of the
>>typical journey in search of an identity which has been stolen by ........
>>Fill the blank.
>
>I identify with being a woman, and you identify with being deaf, and
>another identifies with being queer....and so forth. One huge
>collection of diversified niche markets: the capitalist laughs all
>the way to the bank and opposition is so fragmented it no longer
>even possesses a language that can help it come out of its dead end.
>
>Joanna

-- Marta Russell Los Angeles, CA http://www.disweb.org



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