Am I disabled? Yes, if it's a choice: respectful-activism!

At first blush it's an easy question, but is it? I received this question in an email recently from my friend Judith, and it really made me think. I've never really questioned my identity in this way, but I do increasingly these days – I am a Ph.D student, you question everything! I had an accident at birth, so from the age of 3, when I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy by a nun, I was labelled disabled – no question. It's no biggie, it’s my normal, I have had no other experience to compare it to. Sadly, looking back for years I saw it as a binary option. The choice being: disabled or non-disabled. In all honesty I think it took precedence over being a woman, in my heart I had a third gender....

I few years ago a very strange thing happened, I got a lesson in feminism from a man. On a train to work, I heard a podcast about a man’s journey to feminism [Alan Bissett]. He explained he had had his epiphany when he chose the radical writings of Andrea Dworkin as an antidote to his growing addiction to porn (Really!?). Bissett’s thoughts made me realise that feminism is a continuum, from uninterested to radicals, women and men can essentially choose to embrace feminist ideas - or not.

As a woman I hadn't yet articulated this choice fully. On that day, I moved mindfully to a place on within a group, non-practising or radical, the choice was mine. My badge is one of respectful-activism. I use feminist ideas in my work, research and governance. I acknowledge the oppression women face in a global context every day. The point I’m labouring, is that it is an activity! It is something I do, it is not something I am. I could be a non-feminist woman, I had to step up and consciously think about sexism. I had to think about how sexism affects women in different contexts, and articulate clearly the power imbalance women and men live with in localities, institutions and globally. My choice.

So, disabled ? 

Well if it means having an impairment, cognitive difference or condition - yes I qualify. But if it means understanding disablism and standing as a respectful-activist against ableism then that's a choice. It means being aware that as a group:

-   Disabled people are significantly more likely to experience unfair treatment at work.

-  A higher proportion of individuals who live in families with disabled members live in poverty.
- Disabled people remain significantly less likely to be in employment than non-disabled people.
- Over a quarter of disabled people say that they do not frequently have choice over their daily lives.
- Disabled people remain significantly less likely to participate in cultural, leisure and sporting activities.

Ableism, takes things further, and can be a more aptly descriptive word for the character of disabled people’s oppression. The stereotypes expressing 'less able'.  It's possible that one day ablism will replace disablism. In the same way that sexism replaced misogyny.  

These days when I say I'm disabled it's in recognition that I am one of many in a civil rights group – the disability movement. It's more than an identity – it’s an activity! Again, it's what I do, not who I am.  I can't tell whether Judith has an impairment or not - that's personal information. In any case, in my view it's not right to exclude people from a civil rights movement – the more allies we have the stronger our voice. Furthermore, if men can be feminists, then non-disabled people too have a role in eradicating ablism. To be blunt, disablism really isn't my own personal problem, and it is in our society's interest to address it, to this end we need many committed individuals.  Allies are those that acknowledge their privilege and still express a heart for activism - however radical. In this way I stand as an ally against racism, while I recognise my privilege in whiteness. I speak as a narrator not an author, beside the black community that are in receipt of racism. As I would like to experience the same understanding for my experience of disablism from anyone prepared to stand against it.

Lets not either ride roughshod over the successes of the disabled people that lay down their lives to change ours! Their ideas defined the direction of a revolution! Admittedly, some were probably the most privileged of a much larger group. But let's not bash the changes made possible by privilege owed to whiteness, affluence or class. I would like to be more mindful and more inclusive in my way of appreciating a diverse group; and respect uniqueness and personal sensitivity. We need to encourage multiple ideas and varied activities - not constrict through binary options. For research purposes the position Judith chooses to take, I think, depends on choice not a notion of ability. Being a disabled researcher can put emphasis on individuality, but that researcher cannot author other people's stories - only their own. They can interpret, and narrate, a telling of the group's story, if understand and acknowledge the journey travelled by its people. My experience as a disabled-French-woman is unique, and therefore as valuable as any other researcher’s, having an impairment or 3 doesn't define me. My subjectivity needs qualifying, my lens for interpretation , as well as the badge, label, or group alignment of my choice.

I like Coleman's (2011) idea that 'there are more differences between women, than between women and men'; or disabled people and non-disabled people.

© Laura (Mole) Chapman 2016