It is strange that in documentaries, the disabled people's sexuality is portrayed through their reproductive functions. All of the little clips I found about these people were about babies. (Maybe I'm not searching hard enough, but I've been watching documentaries and clips of these sorts for years and it's strange that I haven't come across any).
Meet Alison Lapper. I had found a 60 minute documentary about her sexuality and motherhood but due to copyright restrictions it has been removed (I had actually kept it in my playlist on youtube to share it for this week but too bad it's gone). But good news is, I found something else about Alison Lapper which pretty much sums up her life. The concepts of independence, motherhood, disability and prosthetics, forcing a person into so-called "normalcy" are prominent in the video. I definitely recommend to watch it all the way through. I tried to embed it but you just have to click the link.
Here is Nick Vujcic who is an inspirational speaker. He's recently become a father. (Awwww). Listening to his personal experience is extremely interesting since he himself, although he has a lot of self confidence, he does admits that he thought he would never get married.
And finally meet Jeremy and Christianne. It's interesting to see the external gaze of others towards their relationship which is noteworthy.
This week we talked about limb transplants at class as well as how medicine was formed as a profession. Seemingly untouchable, stuck in a strict hierarchy, I think medicine likes staying the way it is since it is able to accumulate so much power within the society.
I suggested that the high cost of some medical services are definitely intentional. Not enough investment is put to make cheaper, smaller and more efficient medical instruments. The performance of a computer has more than ten folded, its capacity has multiplied thousands of times, they can fit your palm and are extremely cheap (compared to million dollar machines in the 70s, for further information of the advancement of technology, please check out Ray Kurzweil's book "The Singularity is Near"). Technology has developed so much, but why have medical machines not become cheaper/smaller/more accessible? Why don't we have medical home appliances? We could easily have them.
I think the 3D printer has changed a lot of rules in the game. We're able to print out toys already, and 3D printers are going to get cheaper. We ARE going to print out anything we want (we will be able to download the pattern of whichever item we like from some online shops like iTunes), and presto. We'll have appliances, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, toys, gadgets, gizmos printed out from our 3D printer. Can't wait to have one! It sounds sci-fi right? But if we told someone that we'd be downloading music into our devices to someone 30 years ago, they'd call us a dreamer.
Anyways, I think limb transplants are absolutely unnecessary procedures. You get to have very functional ARTIFICIAL SUPER, AWESOME, COOL LOOKING, CYBORG limbs for relatively cheap now. WHY on earth would anyone want a limb that would not function?!
Ok check this out people. There are tons of artificial limb TED talks that are very interesting. But these two are my favorites. Meet Aimee Mullins. She gives her personal story about artificial limbs and the way the world's perspective has changed towards different bodies. I also share Scott Summit's talk, from a designer's perspective. The second one's first 3-5 minutes are not as interesting in his talk but I keep getting goosebumps towards the end. To watch the second video please click here. (Apparently there's some copyright issues and I can't put the second vid on the blog).
They say you can't change the cards you were dealt, but that you can try to play the best game possible with them. Today I want to share videos of two people I admire; they had the kindness and generosity to let us viewers have a glimpse in their lives. I found these two stories on the official Youtube channel of "Embarassing Bodies", a TV program featured on Channel 4. The whole point of the program is to overcome embarrassment, so don't let the title mislead you; I actually watch it regularly since I find it very enlightening. It's nice that the doctors feature incurable "diseases" from time to time on the program, in order to bring awareness of people with different bodies. Simon and Leeanne live their lives at the fullest. I don't want to be biased and claim they have perfect lives, nobody does...
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 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.
