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The Language Of Disability: Problems Of Politics And Practice

From: Australian Disability Review
Creator: Irving Kenneth Zola (author)
Date: 1988
Publication: Australian Disability Review
Source: Available at selected libraries

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Distance and relationship are also at the heart of some very common verb usages. The first is between the active and the passive tense. Note the two dictionary meanings:

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active: asserting that the person or thing represented by the grammatical subjects performs the action represented by the verb (Webster 1973, p. 12).
passive: asserting that the grammatical subject to a verb is subjected to or affected by the action represented by that verb (Webster 1973, p. 838).

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Thus in describing an individual's relationship to an assistive device such as a wheelchair, the difference between 'being confined to a wheelchair' or 'using' one is a difference not only in terminology but in control. Medical language has long perpetuated this tense use by its own emphasis on what it continually does to its 'patients' rather than with them (Edelman 1977; Szasz and Hollender 1956).

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The most heavy 'connotations' and 'pervasiveness' issues may well be seen in the differential use of the verbs 'be' and 'have'. The French language is very conscious of this in its careful distinctions between when to use etre (be) and when to use avoir (have). English daily usage is blurry but another look at Webster's does show the possibilities.

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be: to equal in meaning
to have same connotations as
to have identity with
to constitute the same class as (Webster 1973, p. 96)
have: to hold in possession
to hold in one's use
to consist of
to stand in relationship to
to be marked or characterised by
to experience
SYN - to keep, control, retain, or experience (Webster 1973, p. 526)

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Like the issue of nouns vs prepositions, verbs can also code people in terms of categories (e.g. x is a redhead) instead of specific attributes (eg. x has red hair) and thus allow people to feel that the stigmatised persons are fundamentally different and establish greater psychological and social distance (Crocker and Lutsky 1986). Thus as between the active and passive tense, so it is between 'I am. . . ' and 'I have. . . ' Both specify a difference in distance and control in relation to whatever it is one 'is' or 'has'. And since it is an alternative image of distance and control which the renaming is all about, grammar, which tends to be normative, concise, shared and long-lasting, may serve us better than sheer name change. Though I may personally have a generic preference (e.g. for 'disability' and 'handicap'), I hope it is obvious that I am not arguing for any 'politically correct' usage but rather what the political advantages and disadvantages are of each (Lindsey).

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For example, there may be stages in the coping with a particular condition or in the perceived efficacy of a particular 'therapy' (eg. the twelve steps in Alcoholics Anonymous) when 'ownership' and thus the use of 'I am' is deemed essential. Those old enough to remember President Kennedy's words at the Berlin Wall, 'ich bin ein Berliner' (I am a Berliner) will recall the power of its message of kinship. Thus, too, when we politically strategise as a minority group (Hahn 1985) and seek a kinship across disease and disability groups (Harris and Associates 1986), the politically coming-out may require a personal ownership best conveyed in terms of 'I am. . . '.

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On the other hand, there are times when the political goals involve groups where disease and disability is not a permanent or central issue. On my own university campus for a myriad of reasons, people with mobility impairments are virtually non-existent. Yet gradually we are retrofitting old buildings and guaranteeing accessibility in new ones. The alliance here is with women who are or may become pregnant, parents with small children, people with injuries or time-limited diseases or disabilities, and others who perceive themselves at risk, such as ageing staff or faculty. They rarely see themselves as disabled but often see themselves as having a temporary disability or sharing a part of 'the disabled experience'(e.g. 'Now I know what it's like to try to climb all those stairs'). Thus where coalition politics is needed, the concept of 'having' versus 'being' may be an easier way of acknowledging multiple identities and kinship, as in our use of hyphenated personal and social lineages, e.g. Afro-American.

A Final Caveat
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One of the sad findings in the Phillips'study (1986) is how divisive this struggle over names has become. People thus begin to chastise 'non-true believers' and emphasise to others 'politically correct' usage. In so doing, we may not only damage the unity so necessary to the cause but also fail to see the forest for the trees. The reason for our struggle in the first place is because we live in a society which devalues, discriminates against, disparages people with a disability (Hahn 1985; Scotch 1984). It is not our task to prove that we are worthy of the full resources and full integration of our society. The fault is not in us, not in our diseases and disabilities (Crawford 1977, 1979; Ryan 1970; Zola 1982) but in mythical denials, social arrangements, political priorities and prejudices (Gleidman and Roth 1980). Here, too, a renaming can be of service but it is not of us but of our oppressors (Fine and Asch 1985; Saxton 1981). As Hughes and Hughes (1952) notes, when we turn the tables and create epithets for our oppressors, this may be a sign of a beginning cohesiveness. Thus the growing popularity of terms like TABs and MAB's (temporarily or momentarily able-bodied) to describe the general population, breakdown the separateness of an 'us' and 'them' and emphasise the continuity and inevitability of 'the disability experience'. Thus, too, those who have created the terms 'handicappism'(Bogdan and Biklen 1977) and 'healthism'(Crawford 1980; Zola 1972, 1977) equate these with all the structural '-isms' in a society which operates to continue segregation and discrimination. To return finally to the issue of naming, the words of Philip Dunne reflect well the choices and consequences of language:

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