The paradox of ability

In society we often refer to people with impairments as ‘the disabled’ people. We frequently think of them as people that have a personal tragedy. To the so called normal they are seen as freaks of nature and monstrous. Disability in society seems to be a form of social oppression. It is somewhat ridiculous how we generalize impairments. We normally construct these as disabilities other than just an individual impairment, and ‘automatically’ to us the blind shall become deaf, dumb and lame, because they possess impairment. There was once a blind man that was being disparaged by people in a taxi and right in his presence with the assumption that he was deaf too. But only you can imagine the embarrassment they went through because of their ignorance and insensitivity when the man responded with a barrage of curses. Because sometimes the so called ‘normal people’ like you and I have generalized the impaired. Sometimes people get mixed feelings when they meet a person that is impaired. At times, some people have the urge to help, with the assumption that they cannot help themselves and other people feel sorry but are afraid of showing it lest the ‘victim’ gets offended. I imagine some topics are left out during a conversation because the topic has something to do with the disability. It is a difficult situation to deal with I must admit, but as people that claim to be the ‘normal’ ones in society then let us revise the way we look at these people. The mere fact that a topic is started in a group of friends and you have to stop because you are afraid it will hurt the victim that alone is disturbing to the disabled because it is a reminder that they are disabled. Maybe treat them as normal as you can and that will make them more comfortable than you had imagined. Often other sections are negated such as race, class, gender and ethnicity, because we assume the disabled belong to a unique race, class and gender. What is it that you do when you come across someone impaired? Let me guess, before you look at their chest to see if they have breasts or not or even their skin color so you can categorize them, your eyes go straight to the wheelchair or to the disabled part of their body. Identity becomes one-dimensional. It has become common for the impaired to be constructed as genderless, asexual and other by society. It is not funny how we actually assume that impaired people actually belong to the same class. The identity of disability every so often overshadows the other identities such man and woman, or mother and father. Impaired women are intensified as passivity, helplessness and sick, at times they are looked at if they are infantile-their inability to see for example is also assumed to be an inability to have children. The social status of women with impairments in society is shaped by cultural beliefs and this devaluates them because it is then assumed they are useless, and then we have the very insensitive men that I am reluctant to call human beings that take this misfortune as a blessing for them so they go ahead and rape these women. Like women, men have their challenges too. Men have a corrupted masculinity and enforced dependence on other people, which is further assumed by society. Moreover, these images have real consequences in terms of education, employment and living arrangements. Most of you out there are reluctant to hire that lame man or woman because you think his brain is lame too. In contemporary Africa, stereotypes are one of those concepts that we are trying to get rid of. However, stereotypes are one of the things that shall help to change the way we look at the ‘disabled’. The stereotypes will lead to the resistance against stigma for instance asserting maternal roles of women ignoring facts of being disabled, and also reinforcing and redefining masculinities for men and challenging gendered disability. Honestly, normality is just cultural construction and for us to be able to help and also stop victimization of people with impairments, then society should reconstruct what it views as normal or abnormal, because really the loss of one arm does not label one abnormal. Limitations of jobs or other roles in society are not caused by disabilities or impairments but by the social interpretation of disability. Therefore, it is possible that the environment that we live in and all the people that live in it- the ones that assume are normal are actually the disabled ones because of their inability to deal with the impaired people in society, so the next time you meet someone that is impaired, avoid feeling sorry and treat them as normal as you can and if you find that you cannot deal with the situation then am sorry to say that, that makes you the disabled one. amamunanura@gmail.com