[Ohio-talk] Comparing Blindness to Severe Disabilities
Kaiti Shelton
kaiti.shelton at gmail.com
Fri Jan 3 19:35:15 UTC 2014
Here you go, JW. I was able to open the document fine but I'm posting the
paper here in case others would find it easier to read it this way. A
really good consideration from the communications side of the discussion.
Intradisciplinary connections: Exploring the construct of “membership”
across communication scholarship
(Dis)ability Membership
A Paper Delivered by J.W. Smith at the 99th Annual Conference of the
National Communication Association (NCA) in Washington, D.C.
November 2013
Code switching as defined by Martin and Nakayama (2013) is a technical term
in communication that refers to the phenomenon of changing language,
dialects, or even accents. One reason they argue that groups engage in code
switching is to “avoid accommodating others” (p. 257). I would like to
discuss how persons with disabilities (the “in” group) and especially those
with more obvious physical disabilities (i.e. blind and visual impairment,
deaf and hard of hearing, and mobility impairments) utilize this phenomenon
to separate and accentuate their uniqueness from the able bodied community
and those with less obvious disabilities. How is this “in” group
communication enacted to ensure credible membership in this exclusive
community, and what are the implications of this enactment for successful
and effective dialogue between communities? I further contend that there is
a non-verbal aspect to this phenomenon as well and that particular
communication contexts encourage the enactment of code switching.
“The Club” and the Problem
“In her work on code switching, communication scholar Karla Scott (2000)
discusses how the use of different ways of communicating creates different
cultural contexts and different relationships between the conversants. Based
on a series of interviews with black women, she notes “the women’s shared
recognition that in markedly different cultural worlds their language use is
connected to identity” (Martin & Nakayama, 2013)
This focus of Dr. Scott is the more common way that code switching is
generally discussed and experienced i.e. racial and ethnic issues often
focusing on the black community. My contention in this brief discussion is
that it occurs in a variety of cultural settings and especially the
community of those with disabilities. My experience has been that it
functions more as an exclusionary tactic as opposed to an accommodating goal
of conversance.
So what is “the club”? It is comprised of those of us who are in
what I call the “big three” as stated earlier blindness and obvious visual
impairment, deafness and obvious hard of hearing, and mobility impairment
and obvious developmental disabilities. I emphasize obvious because the
inability to hide the disability is a key ingredient in both the status and
contextual acceptance in this special “club/in group”. It is a unique
culture with specific guidelines for membership e.g. are you disabled enough
to really claim membership and what are the implications of these often
unspoken requirements?
Allow me a brief personal story. While at a conference some years
ago my friend and I returned to our hotel room and on our way encountered a
mutual acquaintance. As we begin to talk it became clear that our
acquaintance had a great deal of sight and it was also clear to me that my
friend either had forgotten this or never knew it. He immediately lapsed
into group code speak with comments like “you really have to be blind to
understand” and “it’s a visual thing, you know” and “isn’t braille great?”
After our mutual acquaintance had left, he shared with me how he could not
believe that she had so much sight and how it was probably very difficult
for her to really understand our world. I strongly disagreed with him and
told him so but I chose not to pursue the conversation any further at that
point.
This example is one of several that I have experienced in a variety
of contexts and it highlights the problem of this “in group” communication
that often occurs as a way of excluding others. Unfortunately, it is often
intentional and quite rude but I understand why it happens. Many of us with
disabilities have used it to try to maintain a safe space away from pity and
paternalism and well-meaning people and as a way of bonding and sharing
unique experiences. But the problem goes deeper because it often makes the
“outsider” feel quite defensive and excluded and in many ways it
demonstrates the very same thing that those of us in the community fight
against i.e. feeling shut out, having others try to speak for us and often
being felt like people would rather communicate with the disability instead
of the person with the disability. Finally, the problem is also not just
limited to communication between people with disabilities and TABS
(temporarily abled bodied) but it also rears its ugly head when there is a
diverse meeting of even members of the “big three” and one of those groups
dominate the context both in terms of numbers and or philosophy. Simply put,
I have observed tension and contention when people from the deaf community
dominate a particular environment or people from the mobility impaired
community dominate it. In short, everyone believes that their part of “the
club” and more importantly, their communication issues relative to their
population, should dominate particular contexts.
Some Possible Solutions
In his article “Pushing Forward: Disability, Basketball, and Me” the
author Ronald Berger comes face to face with the “insider/outsider” dilemma
as a result of raising his daughter that has cerebral palsy:
Having moved many years ago from Los Angeles to the Midwest, a land of
few Jews, I have grown accustomed to living as an “outsider,” an ideal place
for a sociologist who observes. I was not quite prepared, however, to be
treated as an outsider by other people with disabilities. I do not know why
I
was so naïve.
When I first began reading the disability studies literature, dominated
these days by writers who have disabilities, I was confronted with the
question,
“What are you doing here?” (Branfield, 1998, 1999). It was as if I was
being told: You who are able bodied, who are not disabled, need not apply.
This is our terrain. Please leave us alone. We do not need or want your
help.
Research by the nondisabled is exploitative—“nothing about us without us”
(Charlton, 1998). (Berger, 2004)
Unfortunately, this is not a unique occurrence for people like Berger and I
will not spend the time here to go into all the details of the article but
suffice it to say that it has become a bigger challenge for a number of
reasons in recent years. There is now more attention on people with
disabilities and much of that is positive but it also brings the necessity
to include the diverse worlds of people with disabilities i.e. it is not a
simple cut and dry existence like some books or films would like to have us
believe. As I stated earlier, I hope that you will get the article for
yourself but I thought it was instructive to include here some of the
solutions proposed by Berger:
I was quite frankly angered that my motivation was being questioned. I
felt on the defensive and quickly sought to legitimate my presence. I told
them about Sarah—she is the reason I am here. Do you not think it is
important
to understand why some people with disabilities are managing to do
well? Do you not want people with disabilities to do well? Of course they
did,
and with this my presence was accepted. We began to reach a meeting of the
minds, a rapprochement, a feeling of camaraderie that we were all in it
together. A little personal disclosure goes a long way.
As I read further in the disability studies literature, I was pleased to
come
across welcoming voices (Darling, 2000; Duckett, 1998). To turn away the
nondisabled, some said, is to reproduce the same patterns of exclusion those
who are disabled have been fighting against. In an article on disabled
people’s
opinions about disability research, I learned that some did not want to
leave the field in the hands of a small cadre of academics with disabilities
who
may have a professional agenda of their own that does not represent the
interests
of the diverse constituency of the disabled (Kitchen, 2000). This field of
inquiry should be open to all. They ask only that researchers approach the
topic from a “disabled-friendly” point of view—that they are able to
empathize
with people with disabilities (verstehen), not misrepresent the experiences
of the disabled, and use their research to advance the principle of equality
for the disabled (Kitchen, 2000, p. 36; also see Darling, 2000). (Berger,
2004)
In my mind, this really sums up the issues but I want to conclude with two
final observations and potential solutions. First, to those who may feel
excluded at times- try not to get too defensive and try to understand the
“insider/outsider” dilemma and double consciousness that is often
experienced by those in traditionally underrepresented and marginalized
groups. Often, the exclusionary tactic is not intentional or personal and in
fact it is necessary; albeit I will admit rude and fraught with risks. As a
TAB or non-member of the dominating group in a particular context, a simple
stepping back and objective inquiry might be helpful at times.
Second however, those of us with disabilities have to be aware of
our accountability in aspects of these communication exchanges as well. This
was brought home to me in a very arresting way at the end of a class
presentation that I did for a colleague at my university. After spending
about 45 minutes talking about what “outsiders” should do to make
communication between those of us with disabilities and those of us without
more effective, a female in the back of the room with a clear international
accent said “you’ve spent all this time telling us what we should do but
what is your role and accountability in these situations?” I must tell you I
was caught off guard by the excellent comment and question and it has caused
me since to be mindful of the transactional nature of communication. It is a
give and take and therefore those of us as members of the “big three” need
to do all in our power to lessen the tension and not to do things to throw
additional road blocks in the paths of those that could be potential allies.
Additionally, as I did with my friend, we have a responsibility not to let
other members in our group enact ineffective and destructive code switching
tactics.
References
Berger, R. J. (2004). Disability, basketball, and me. Qualitative Inquiry ,
10(5), Retrieved from http://qix.sagepub.com/content/10/5/794.abstract
Martin, J., Nakayama, T. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts.
New York: McGraw Hill
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton---2016
Music Therapy Major, Psychology Minor, Clarinet
Ohio Association of Blind Students, President
Advocates for Sexual Assault Prevention (ASAP), Vice President
NFB Community Service Group, Service Project Committee Chair
Sigma Alpha Iota-Delta Sigma, Usher Coordinator
-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Smith, JW
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2014 2:23 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Ohio-talk] Comparing Blindness to Severe Disabilities
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all and I'm a bit late here but I wanted to respond to
the very articulate and provocative at times post from Kaiti.
This is an interesting topic and one we should continue to explore and
discuss both in more public settings and perhaps small group contexts as
well.
I'm going to attach a copy of a small paper that I presented at the annual
NCA National Communication Association Convention I guess last year now just
to broaden the discussion a bit!
I just thought that your comments are so right on Kaiti and I want to tell
you how much I appreciate your thoughtful idea's and you write so well
indeed!
If you have trouble opening this perhaps someone could cut and paste it in
the email message area itself for me please?
Enjoy and try and stay warm especially early next week!
Jw
Dr. JW Smith
Associate Professor
Interim Director of Honors Tutorial Studies School of Communication Studies
Lasher Hall, Rm. 112 Athens, OH 45701 smithj at ohio.edu
T: 740-593-4838
F: 740-593-4810
*Ask me about the newly revised Ohio Fellows Program or visit
http://www.ohio.edu/univcollege/ohiofellows.cfm
"Regarding the past, change what you can, and can what you can't."
"Our minds are like parachutes. They work best when they are open."
-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti
Shelton
Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2013 12:53 AM
To: 'NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [Ohio-talk] Comparing Blindness to Severe Disabilities
Hi all,
This is a very interesting discussion, and one I have debated myself for
several years. I have memories of thinking my blindness is nothing in
comparison to what some people with disabilities face. I still remember a
Special Olympics swim meet where my mom ran into the mother of one of her
high school boyfriends, and finding out that I had competed against her
other son in a race. I was ten with a lack of eyesight being my only
disability, he was in his late twenties with severe Down Syndrome. A
trainer had to walk along the side of the pool to remind him to keep going.
I didn't think it was fair to have the gold medal that I had received when I
was swimming against people like that, those without all their limbs, etc.
On the other hand, I know that people with these other disabilities think
that blindness is scary and far worse a thing to deal with than their
disability. I have spent the past year learning bits and pieces of deaf
culture and basic sign language. I know enough to hold conversations with a
deaf person because I performed in a sign singing choir at school, but I
always wondered what would happen if I randomly came into contact with a
deaf person. How would I work around the communication barriers? How could
I let them know I couldn't see what they were signing? Would we have to
revert to the painstaking hand spelling stuff? Then a few months ago a
member of music therapy club brought in her dad, who is deaf, to speak at a
club meeting on deaf culture. He taught a lot of signs to the group that I
did not learn the year before, and he was moving so fast. Everyone else was
picking it up so quickly, and although people around me positioned my hands
when they could I still missed a lot. I decided that I needed to learn how
to work around the communication barrier, so afterwards I asked the guy how
it would be best for me to approach a situation like this. He taught me how
to say, "Sorry, I can't see you," and then to say, "But I can sign a
little." This is because even if the person had to hand spell into my palm
I can still use sign language to convey the message I wanted to get across
more quickly. Then he saw my BrailleSense and asked a lot of questions
about it. It was really interesting to have this conversation with someone
who seemed so opposite from myself. As a blind person I would be terrified
of losing my hearing, but as a deaf person he relies on his vision so much
that I'm sure blindness is a scary concept to him. I was very thankful that
he could speak well and read lips, but I wondered how reading lips was even
possible since that is a foreign concept to me too.
I think it is natural to assume that we are always better off than someone
else, and this is true for anyone with any disability. I've been in
situations at music enrichment sites for school where people with various
disabilities have said all sorts of things about my blindness, ranging from
things like, "We feel sorry for you," to questions, and to "That Braille
thing you're using looks really cool."
I agree with Colleen on the notion that I don't think disabilities can
really be compared to each other. Now that I've reflected on it for my
philosophy project, I think that each disability poses a unique set of
challenges, but none have to be totally terrible. Deaf people find joy in
things they can see, while we find it in things we can hear and touch.
People who cannot walk adapt to getting around and getting things done just
as we do, but in different ways that are appropriate for their challenges.
Those with mental disabilities are sometimes the happiest people you will
ever meet. But each of these group is effected by different things, so it
is not right to categorize them into something like the chain of being which
is basically a hierarchy and say, "Deaf people don't have it as bad as blind
people, but blind people have it better than those who are in wheelchairs."
If we were to do that, we would have a lot of different chains, none of
which is really ethical to have in the first place.
Sorry for the rant, but I find this discussion really interesting. I hope
everyone had a merry Christmas.
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton---2016
Music Therapy Major, Psychology Minor, Clarinet Ohio Association of Blind
Students, President Advocates for Sexual Assault Prevention (ASAP), Vice
President NFB Community Service Group, Service Project Committee Chair Sigma
Alpha Iota-Delta Sigma, Usher Coordinator
-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Marianne
Denning
Sent: Wednesday, December 25, 2013 6:07 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Ohio-talk] Comparing Blindness to Severe Disabilities
This is a very interesting discussion. First, I have been blind since birth
so I really have nothing else to compare my life to. I remember my first
job out of college. I worked at an apartment complex for people with
physical disabilities. Many of them could not feed themselves, dress
themselves or communicate easily. I felt sorry for them. I learned later
that they felt sorry for me. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things.
If anyone is going to be successful in life you must handle what life gives
you. I have met people who had, what looked like, an easy life and they
were constantly complaining and feeling sorry for themselves. I have met
people and wondered how they went from day to day and they had a fantastic
attitude. I think any time someone loses an ability they once had it is a
challenging situation so even though the loss may be different the challenge
is similar. I don't understand this at all, but most people fear blindness
above anything else except cancer. I don't get it but I don't think we can
ignore it either.
Okay, I am off my soap box. It is a great topic for discussion and
thinking. I would especially like to get responses from people who lost
their vision as adults. I believe the NFB philosophy is great for putting
blindness in perspective.
On 12/25/13, Dawn <dlanting at bex.net> wrote:
> Colleene I really considered myself with a disability but I guess I
> am disabled because of my blindness I just feel so blessed that I am
> me
and
> I can think and have a heart there are many people worse off then I I
> don't ask God why me I say why not me Merry Christmas and Happy
> Birthday Jesus Happy New Year everyone
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ohio-talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
> COLLEEN ROTH
> Sent: Wednesday, December 25, 2013 3:17 PM
> To: ohio-talk at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Ohio-talk] Comparing Blindness to Severe Disabilities
>
> Hello Everyone,
> When you read this please do not think that I am diminishing the
> adjustment to blindness that many people on this list have
> experienced. I hope that what I am going to say will put things into
perspective.
> On the news Monday night Channel 13 had some coverage of some students
> from the University of Toledo Engineering Department's Project inhelp
> someone with a Disability.
> Asparently they invented something to help a nun who has lost all of
> her limbs.
> The person from the Ability Center who commented about this Invention
> said it just proves that people with Disabilities can succeed in
> overcoming such major challenges. The person who mace this comment is
> blind. While I know that there are many adjustments for those who
> become blind I do not think you can compare these adjustments to those
> experienced by someone who has lost the use of her arms and legs.
> This just reinforces the stereotype the public have about blindness.
> It says to the general public that blind people are as disabled as
> someone who has lost the use of all four limbs.
> It would have been helpful if the Ability Center had used someone with
> significant disabilities as the spokesman for this story.
> I am making these comments after Dawn shared information with me about
> this story.
> I did not see the story myself but I just want to encourge people to
> think about our attitudes when we make comparisons.
> We all have differing views on which disability would be the hardest
> to adjust to and deal with in our lives. I am sure a deaf person would
> say that it would be harder to be blind. I am sure that a blind person
> would say it would be harder to be deaf.
> I think that some people who use a wheelchair would think it would be
> easier to be blind or deaf. The comparison between being blind and
> having no use of your limbs is like comparing apples to oranges.
> Colleen Roth
>
>
>
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>
--
Marianne Denning, TVI, MA
Teacher of students who are blind or visually impaired
(513) 607-6053
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