Hi everyone, today I will be discussing the term disabled and how it is used as a source of oppression for a group of people that fulfil a specific criteria. I will be referring to the Ted Talk by Susan Robinson entitled How I fail at being disabled throughout my post in order to exemplify and further examine the impact of the term disabled on someone who has been personally victimised by it.
The word disabled is a term that has inherently negative connotations in terms of both its application and structure. As Robinson points out, the prefix ‘dis’ suggests that an individual is deviant from the norm in a way that is limiting to their potential and capacity (Robinson, Susan). This outlook is not only inaccurate but incomplete as it fails to consider the various aspects of an individual that may be particularly exceptional. In addition, the assumptions placed upon disabled people teaches them to be complacent and to accept that they will never be ‘as successful’ as an able bodied person. In this way, disabled people are placed in opposition with and in comparison to the norm in terms of how they should measure their lives. Robinson describes the occurrence of this in her own life as people often seem surprised when hearing of her success (Robinson, Susan). A rhetoric of triumph is then placed upon the stories of disabled people, as they present disability as something that must be overcome rather than as an integral part of who someone is. Similarly the label ‘disabled’ assumes that an individual has no other defining attributes whereas referring to someone as a person with a disability acknowledges that it is only one of the many attributes that characterises them.
Another aspect of how disability is represented is seen through the criteria that is used to determine whether or not an individual is disabled. Despite the common perception that disability refers exclusively to people with physical limitations, Merriam Webster defines it to be inclusive of “physical, mental, cognitive or developmental” impairments. In this way, Robinson’s statement that everyone is disabled in their own way can be supported (Robinson, Susan). By broadening this outlook on what it means to be disabled, the term is redefined as a spectrum rather than as a category. This is exemplified through Robinson’s own experience as she refers to herself as “partially sighted” rather than as “blind” in order to reject the stigma that comes along with the definitive label of disabled (Robinson, Susan).
In conclusion, the term disabled is used as a tool to segregate a minority group by labelling them as inferior. However, Robinson works to reject this stereotype by presenting disability on a spectrum on which everyone falls, meaning everyone is affected by the stigma that surrounds it.
Works Cited:
Robinson, Susan. How I Fail at Being Disabled . How I Fail at Being Disabled , Ted Talks, Dec. 2016, www.ted.com/talks/susan_robinson_how_i_fail_at_being_disabled#t-47940.
“Disabled .” Merriam Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disabled
