I Was Not Born With a Label; Society Gave Me One

Today, as I was preparing to write my next post for this blog, I was bouncing around with my head topics. I thought my next blog would be about the social security problem (i.e., How social security is designed to keep individuals with disabilities on it, rather than intended as an incentive to assist them in better their lives.) While this is an important issue and one that I will discuss later, I came across an article that I feel is my duty as a blogger for disability rights. 

An article by a lady named Sunny Taylor titled The Right Not to Work: Power and Disability. In the article, Miss Taylor indicates that she is an individual who has arthrogryposis multiplex congenital. According to Web MD¹, "Arthrogryposis is a general or descriptive term for the development of nonprogressive contractures affecting one or more areas of the body. A contracture is a condition in which a joint becomes permanently fixed in a bent (flexed) or straightened (extended) position, completely or partially restricting the movement of the affected joint."  

When my friend first told me about this article, we got into an argument about how I thought Miss Taylor was incorrect in her view. I said that everybody should be a contributing member of society. However, as I read the article further, I see that while I may disagree with Miss Taylor on one level, I agree with her. (Miss Taylor, if I am mistaken about the point of your article, let me know) I believe she made a good point when she said Disability is more of a social term than an actual name. Miss Taylor puts it more eloquently than I can. If one uses the term disability over the term impairment, it implies something they cannot overcome or workaround. It is a term that immediately subjugates them and reduces them to a lower level of being. That term does not take into account an individual's intelligence or worth to society. This is an ingrained term, and perhaps it can explain why many disabled people have such a negative view about not only their disability but what they can do with it. 

Instead of me summarizing Miss Taylor's article, I have posted it below to draw your conclusions. We need more individuals like myself and Sunny Taylor to begin to discuss the change necessary in society and the disability rights movement overall.  

The Right Not to Work: Power and Disability Article


Footnotes:
1. http://children.webmd.com/arthrogryposis-multiplex-congenita.