Today at one point during class we discussed how social class and the country you're born in, your social and financial conditions has effect on your life. Especially if you're disabled, this has a huge influence on your quality of life. Here are two videos of adoptive families who have offered their children amazing lives with so much possibility, potential and happiness.
I think the Johnstons have a reality show now... For some reason, American television networks are obsessed with people with disabilities nowadays. Well, at least these people are not in circuses... But I feel that they are exposed to the media a bit too much just because they have physical challenges. I know that conjoined twins Brittany and Abigail Hensel have a reality show. Their parents didn't want them to be exposed as much... (I will share that soon, I have the link but I don't want to bombard my blog with so many things that nobody could follow). In any case, these are beautiful stories. I had been thinking about sharing them on my blog for a while.
Btw, the second link only works via youtube. Please click on the youtube logo to open it.
I had been looking for this ad for quite a while. I think it makes a great point in showing how inaccessible our environment is for all sorts of people (I live in Istanbul). I remember how surprised I was when I went to Taipei to see my sister last summer. There were so many wheelchair users. My sister made this interesting remark : "I first thought that there were more wheelchair users in Taipei, but then I realized that they go out more than they do in Turkey."
Actually the number of wheelchairs in the city need not be the only criteria to understand the accessibility of the city, the number of strollers too, could be a good indicator. My mother kept complaining how child-unfriendly Istanbul is, she repeatedly recollects how hard it was to walk around with a stroller when I was a kid. Now that my friends are starting to have children, I feel the same too as an "auntie". It's so hard to bring up a child in this city.
We ought not pity anyone who has trouble getting around in the city, we just need to democratize our space ! People are not bodily restricted, it is our cities that are restrictive. Unfortunately the measurements the government has been taking is definitely not enough.
I was just a little child who wanted to play and learn. I recollect feeling queasy, unhappy, stressed and upset once I was enrolled in school. Why on earth did I despise school, I was a great student ! I had good grades, I was considered a "smart" kid. But I always felt out of place. Something was missing. I was lucky enough to be in an alternative private primary school in which drama, music and art classes were really practiced, but I guess it still had this canonical idea of an education system in which it would create good citizens who would eventually be successful in life with a "decent" job.
I don't think this is a problem specific to any particular country; but our education system is really not working. Firstly, it's boring ! I remember being bored to death, having to sit on a desk 9-4, forced to learn things and not have fun. School doesn't tolerate different skills and talents either. To some extent they do, but there is always this idea of grades and the idea that you have to keep up the good work, you have to learn things at a certain pace, age and time. It was pathetic. (It is only at university that I started coming to terms with the idea of "school" since it's out of my choice and curiosity that I do this.) At the most basic level of education the hierarchization of disciplines doesn't help the learning process at all; why is mathematics and science classes considered more important than literature? Why are the smartest always pushed towards this constructed hierarchy and the "stupid" are pushed to social sciences? The distinction between the so-called "normal" and "the deviated" therefore do not start from extremes, they start right under our noses. From the moment we are institutionalized; exposed to the larger world, other people, we are doomed... My M.A. class focuses on issues such as disability; which I think is very important. However as I reflect upon this, I noticed (as my instructor also said) that discussions weren't necessarily about disability per se, it was about differences; different bodies, mentalities, lifestyles... I guess education is one convoluted branch I got to reflect upon, although it is far away from the subject matter of my graduate class.
Here is the video I promised to share. This TED talk has introduced me to one of my idols. Sir Ken Robinson. He's an amazing man who works on reforming our education system. He has other TED talks too, but this one is the clearest one in which he makes his main points. Our education system is not working since only certain people with the set of skills that are favorable are considered successful. Without giving further spoilers, here's the video. Do enjoy. I will be posting new videos through the weekend. (It's a surprise!). This video is really worth watching. I recommend it heavily to all of my blog readers. Lots of hugs and enjoy your valentines day :)
I guess this caricature clarifies enough my stance about differences.
Today at class we had a lively discussion about the construction of normalcy and how those who didn't fit into these norms were categorized, "rehabilitated" in order to adapt to the society. It reminded me of my AFS host brother Jean. Le Petit Jean (yes we really called him like that as a pet name) had trouble reading and writing. I imagine he was dyslexic since he would jumble up all the letters when I helped him with his homework. He was a bright eyed small framed cute 8 year old who was an amazing talker. There seemed nothing wrong with him. In fact, there was nothing wrong with him. The youngest of four, he was struggling at school. But I liked the village teacher's approach. She said "il faut lui fouter la paix"; which meant that one should leave him alone. He would learn to read, and who cared if he was slower than his peers? And without any pressure, Jean was really able to read without trouble by the time he was 9. It was good times...
Then I think about what would have happened in Turkey, where the one who starts reading the first is praised, and those who couldn't read were humiliated, pushed aside, ignored and told off. As if learning is a competition. What a bashed self confidence! No wonder so many people grow to be convinced that they are not good enough. That they are unworthy... Jean's an amazing young man now, and has no trouble at school; acquiring reading skills the latest in class changed nothing at all. Not that I mean that those who need medical attention shouldn't seek any. Had Jean not been able to read by 9,5 years old, he would have had to seek medical attention, but that's not the point.
Why don't we just let people be? The rehabilitation discussion I had at class reminded me of all this. Obviously, some people need medical attention, but what if some others don't? Why push them to the margins of the society? We must remind ourselves that homosexuality too, at one time was perceived as an illness.
So yes, I guess when we're talking about bodies of difference we are also talking about the pace of things. I think we should let people learn and live within their own terms and own pace. That's what the system doesn't permit us to do (and at times they actively prevent us from being different). The society expects us to comply and conform. It forces us to do things at a certain age within a specific time. I remember my adolescence. I was the latest to go through puberty, but once it hit, I had pimples all over my face. Even the slightest difference deemed unaesthetic makes you so easily and openly pushed. Glasses. Braces. In some contexts, being a Star Wars fan and openly discussing it is a social suicide. I had this friend who was deemed "stupid" because she had bad grades and she still played with her dolls at 14.
This video is about a village named Botton. Its residents are comprised of mentally disabled people and volunteers that take up the role as parents. That I find quite problematic. The video is actually sympathetic towards this village but as many documentaries, there is this fascination of the "weird". Discovery channel and TLC for example, are almost like open air circuses. Botton's perhaps the crystallization of the most absurd ways of "dealing with" people who are marginalized in our production obsessed society. See for yourselves and enjoy the video. I will be posting a video about the education system tomorrow; although it is not related to the issue of disability, I think it has a good point in demonstrating how our society doesn't really leave space to different skills and talents.
This blog is opened as a journal for my MA class named bodied of difference. But this is not a scholarly blog. It is a blog in which I will put my thoughts in, take my time to think about how people embody differences, how society perceives difference, how the states deals with it. I think I'll be putting a lot of videos focusing on differences and the way in which these are socially constructed. Everyone is free to comment as long as it is constructive.
I guess I shouldn't write as much, I guess I should just jump in and start sharing thoughts, videos etc.
