Crip Culture.
I'm sitting here listening to Neil Young's 'Weld' ruminating upon my forthcoming training course next week. I do a bit of Positive Action training for disabled people from time to time. I really enjoy it. To see the change in people over the period of the course is a real boost and from experience the delegates get a hell of a lot out of it.
We tackle the whole social model/medical model thing which can be really a struggle to get across at times. It's not an easy concept for everyone, mainly because the disabled people who we get through the door only ever see a negative image of disability. They've never thought about how society and the environment disables them. When it clicks it's wonderful to behold. There's nothing like a room full of brand new uppity crips to warm the heart.
Then it's on to the big stuff. Disability Culture. Now over the years this been a revelation to many people, myself included when I went through the course some 10 years ago. If we can get across the concept of a disability culture then we're nearly there.
So what is it? Well my rather ancient copy of the Pocket Oxford Dictionary (Fifth Edition) defines it thus; "trained and refined state of the understanding and manners and tastes..." What the fuck does that mean? Well I think Mr E Macntosh was talking about a way of life. If you put it those terms then a disabled person cannot escape having a disabled culture. Everything they do is defined by being a disabled person, their mobility, the way they eat, the way they sleep, the way they interact with others and so on.
On the last course I met some real hostility to the concept of disability culture from disabled people of long standing so it's not something that everyone agrees with. I can't see how it's something you can disagree with though. If you're disabled person you have a disabled culture just as if you a black you have a black culture and if you are a Deaf you have a Deaf culture.
Still Thursday will be a new challenge. Maybe they'll come round. Disability is a journey, with many twists and turns in the road and sometimes it takes some people longer to get there.
posted by marmiteboy at 10:00 pm
6 Comments:
Lady Bracknell hears the echoes of a certain Mr Counsell's voice in Master Marmite's latest blog entry....
12:50 am
Mr D,
I define culture as a way of life, a way of doing things, the way something defines your life.
As a disabled person who has accepted who I am disability is not a part of me it is me. As I said a black person cannot be anything other than a black person therefore their whole being is driven by that. My ex-girlfriend was from Nigeria her 'culture' was completely different to mine, not only as a disabled person but as a white Englishman. The way she thought, the way she ate, spent money, travelled and so forth was very different to how I did things.
I'm not saying however that to embrace a culture you have to ghettoise yourself as a disabled person. It's not about that at all. I try to get people to realise that they do things differently, not because they are disabled as such but because they have a different culture. I believe this is very empowering.
12:26 pm
Yep, i agree with that. When I look back on my life, special schooling, how more comfortable I feel with other crips. It seems to to me that I've been very much living in disability culture. Yet, I wasn't aware of this before. I think the first time I heard of it was from boogaloo-dude (sp). It sounded fascinating, the idea of a Disabled culture. On thinking about it, it's not all that new to me as I first thought, lol.
Good luck with the course marmite! I do find these courses fascinating. I've never attended one. Mind you, might help if i had employment.
12:44 pm
Whilst Lady Bracknell wholly accepts that disability culture exists, she does NOT agree with Master Marmite that it is axiomatic that all disabled people belong to it. Simply being disabled does not necessarily open one's eyes to the existence of a separate culture.
Many, many disabled people - chiefly those who have not accepted their own impairments - remain firmly entrenched in mainstream culture, and violently reject any suggestion that there may be an entiely different culture to which they can elect to belong.
Master Marmite has only to look at the opinions of Morgan on the Ouch messageboard for an example of someone who defines himself from a mainstream perspective.
Similarly, there are black and/or gay individuals who actively reject the culture of the minority group to which they belong, and devote themselves to causing as few ripples as possible within straight, white culture.
This is a matter of personal choice. Master Marmite should not be surprised, therefore, if he experiences a negative reaction from his students if he attempts to persuade them that they belong to disability culture WHETHER THEY WANT TO OR NOT.
Lady Bracknell 'does things differently' as a direct result of her physical limitations. It is nonsense to suggest that her method of, for example, getting dressed is the result of cultural influences. Her attitudes, however, ARE influenced by the disability culture to which she is pleased to belong.
1:07 pm
I take all your points. would never try and force someone to believe anything if they didn't not wish it and I welcome debate.
You are right, of course, that not all people wish to belong or been seen as a disabled person. Unfortunately I failed to get my point across properly mainly because I am not gifted in the written word. I would have liked to have explained more about the conflict that occurred in my last class but I'm unable to in this fora. Suffice it to say the views in question made Morgan look like Bert Massie!! Lady B is aware of the flack I got and how difficult that afternoon was. I'm not looking forward to next week as a result.
7:16 pm
My dear Charles,
Thank you for your kind words. You are so right of course. It is a complex subject. The course I train on has to make people think about themself as a disabled person (it's the remit laid down by the sponser to promote a positive attitude to disability). I am very passionate about this issue as it has been life changing for me to discover a culture for myself. I was in denial for 10 years and wouldn't even describe myself as a disabled person. Now I'm a crip and proud.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
MB
8:04 pm
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