Female Forms PDF
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=o= FEMALE FORMS Experiencing and understanding disability Carol Thomas Open University Press Buckingham • Philadelphia Disability, Human Rights and Society Series Editor: Professor Len Barton, University of Sheffield The Disability, Human Rights and Society series reflects a commitment to a par ticular view of 'disability' and a desire to make this view accessible to a wider audience. The series approach defines 'disability' as a form of oppression and identifies the ways in which disabled people are marginalized, restricted and experience discrimination. The fundamental issue is not one of an individual's inabilities or limitations, but rather a hostile and unadaptive society. Authors in this series are united in the belief that the question of disability must be set within an equal opportunities framework. The series gives priority to the examination and critique of those factors that are unacceptable, offen sive and in need of change. It also recognizes that any attempt to redirect resources in order to provide opportunities for discriminated people can not pretend to be apolitical. Finally, it raises the urgent task of establishing links with other marginalized groups in an attempt to engage in a common struggle. The issue of disability needs to be given equal significance to those of race, gender and age in equal opportunities policies. This series provides support for such a task. Anyone interested in contributing to the series is invited to approach the Series Editor at the Department of Educational Studies, University of Sheffield. Current and forthcoming titles F. Armstrong and L. Barton: Disability, Human Rights and Education: Cross- Cultural Perspectives M. Corker: Deaf and Disabled, or Deafness Disabled?: Towards a Human Rights Perspective M. Corker and S. French (eds): Disability Discourse M. Moore, S. Beazley and J. Maelzer: Researching Disability Issues J. Read: The Mediators: Mothers of Disabled Children and the Social Order A. Roulstone: Enabling Technology: Disabled People, Work and New Technology C. Thomas: Female Forms: Experiencing and Understanding Disability A. Vlachou: Struggles for Inclusive Education: An Ethnographic Study Open University Press Celtic Court 22 Ballmoor Buckingham MK18 1XW e-mail: [email protected] world wide web: http://www.openup.co.uk and 325 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA First Published 1999 Copyright © Carol Thomas, 1999 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1P9HE. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 335 19693 4 (pb) 0 335 19694 2 (hb) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Thomas, Carol, 1958- Female Forms : experiencing and understanding disability / Carol Thomas. p. cm. - (Disability, human rights, and society) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-335-19694-2. - ISBN 0-335-19693-4 (pbk.) 1. Disability studies-Great Britain. 2. Handicapped women-Great Britain. 3. Feminist theory-Great Britain. I. Title. II. Series. HV1568.25.G7T46 1999 362.4'082'0941-dc21 98-55530 CIP Typeset by Type Study, Scarborough Printed in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn To the memory of my mother, Moyra Thomas =o= Contents Series editor's preface x Acknowledgements xii Introduction 1 Understanding disability 1 The structure of the book and the argument 2 Experiencing disability: disabled women's narratives 5 Key terms 7 Notes 9 Part I: Defining disability 11 1 Defining disability: the social model 13 Introduction 13 Political roots 14 Social barriers 16 Disabled women constrained by social barriers 17 The emergence of critiques of the social model 24 Gender 26 Endings 30 Notes 30 2 Defining disability: a definitional riddle 33 Introduction 33 A medical sociologist on disability 34 Susan Wendell's definitional approach 36 The challenge 38 The definitional riddle 39 The social relational and property definitions of disability 39 Conflation 41 viii Contents Easy target 42 Impairment effects 42 Endings: back to a social relational definition of disability 44 Notes 45 3 Disability and the social self 46 Introduction 46 Broadening the social relational definition of disability: beyond 47 'doing' Barriers on the outside, inside 47 Experiencing the psycho-emotional dimensions of disablism 48 Recent debates in Disability Studies: the cultural 56 Constructionism, idealism and materialism 58 Endings 60 Notes 61 Part II: Female forms 63 4 Disability and feminist perspectives: the personal and the political 65 Introduction 65 Excluded by our sisters 66 The significance of telling one's story and of 'writing the self' 68 Challenging the status quo 69 Disabled feminists 70 The counter-critique 72 The place of the personal 73 The epistemological importance of 'experience' 75 Endings 80 Notes 82 5 Disability and gender 84 Introduction 84 Gendered disablism 84 Making sense of oppressions 97 Endings 99 Notes 99 6 Wherein lies the difference? 101 Introduction 101 Feminisms 102 Disability, impairment and difference 104 Constructed difference? 110 Identity 112 Reflecting on the debates about difference 115 What about identity? 117 Endings 120 Notes 120 Contents ix Part III: Understanding disability 121 7 Theorizing disability and impairment 123 Introduction 123 Disability and impairment 123 Historical materialism 125 The death of the grand narratives: postmodernism 135 Endings: ways forward? 142 Notes 144 8 Disability Studies and medical sociology 145 Introduction 145 The divide 146 Conceptualizing disability 148 Understanding experience 149 Doing disability research 152 Endings: ways forward? 155 Notes 157 References 160 Index 171
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