Comments on: this concept of hardship http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/ Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:59:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU By: cripchick http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-1101 cripchick Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:16:51 +0000 http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-1101 thank you rage, glad to meet you! thank you rage, glad to meet you!

]]> By: Raging Blogaholic http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-1100 Raging Blogaholic Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:09:16 +0000 http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-1100 Yes! I loved your poem, and it gave me goosebumps at the end. Your words shout an angry truth that cannot be ignored. Powerful. I have just some across your blog by way of BFP, (if I can recall correctly) and I really dig it. Thanks for speaking up. People need desperately to hear these thoughts. Yes! I loved your poem, and it gave me goosebumps at the end. Your words shout an angry truth that cannot be ignored. Powerful.
I have just some across your blog by way of BFP, (if I can recall correctly) and I really dig it. Thanks for speaking up. People need desperately to hear these thoughts.

]]> By: Some Links « Questioning Transphobia http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-966 Some Links « Questioning Transphobia Sun, 25 Nov 2007 04:59:42 +0000 http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-966 [...] Miss Crip Chick wrote a poem everyone should read. [...] [...] Miss Crip Chick wrote a poem everyone should read. [...]

]]> By: DaisyDeadhead http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-953 DaisyDeadhead Sat, 24 Nov 2007 20:07:10 +0000 http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-953 “Disability is social, not medical.” I first understood this truth when it was presented as a philosophical question, "Is severe facial scarring a disability?" Everyone in the class I was in agreed it was, maybe even "severe"...but IT ISN'T, it's just SCARRING. In most cases, facial scarring has no long-term disabling effects at all. It is OTHER PEOPLE'S REACTIONS that make it a "disability." Collective unwillingness to hire a scarred person is as real and has the same consequences as if a building was not accessible. Dwarfism is similar... it is <i>uniform size </i> of buildings, houses and fixtures (faucets, toilets, stairways) that make it a "disability"--not just the <i>fact</i> of being short, which children are too but we don't call them "disabled." I learned a lot of these nuances from the <a href="http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=976593152&searchurl=an%3Derving%2Bgoffman%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3Dstigma%26x%3D67%26y%3D10" rel="nofollow">fabulous (and groundbreaking) old book STIGMA</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigma_%28book%29" rel="nofollow">Erving Goffman,</a> which if you haven't read, you should go check out IMMEDIATELY! :) “Disability is social, not medical.”

I first understood this truth when it was presented as a philosophical question, “Is severe facial scarring a disability?” Everyone in the class I was in agreed it was, maybe even “severe”…but IT ISN’T, it’s just SCARRING. In most cases, facial scarring has no long-term disabling effects at all. It is OTHER PEOPLE’S REACTIONS that make it a “disability.” Collective unwillingness to hire a scarred person is as real and has the same consequences as if a building was not accessible.

Dwarfism is similar… it is uniform size of buildings, houses and fixtures (faucets, toilets, stairways) that make it a “disability”–not just the fact of being short, which children are too but we don’t call them “disabled.”

I learned a lot of these nuances from the fabulous (and groundbreaking) old book STIGMA by Erving Goffman, which if you haven’t read, you should go check out IMMEDIATELY! :)

]]> By: Pinky Bear http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-935 Pinky Bear Fri, 23 Nov 2007 02:53:23 +0000 http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-935 Society is very broken and tragic--not us! Society is very broken and tragic–not us!

]]> By: Lisa Harney http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-921 Lisa Harney Thu, 22 Nov 2007 06:41:19 +0000 http://crip-power.com/2007/11/21/this-concept-of-hardship/#comment-921 "Disability is social, not medical." I remember seeing some AB people arguing over whether that was a valid statement. I think it pretty clearly is. This poem illustrates it so clearly it's almost painful. “Disability is social, not medical.”

I remember seeing some AB people arguing over whether that was a valid statement. I think it pretty clearly is.

This poem illustrates it so clearly it’s almost painful.

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