Module 2
Required Reading
Davis, L. J. (2013). Introduction: Normality, power and culture. In Davis, L.J. (Ed.), The Disability Studies Reader (pp. 1-14). Routledge.
Hall, Melinda C., “Critical Disability Theory”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2019/entries/disability-critical/
Lehrer, R. (2012). Golem girl gets lucky. In McRuer, Robert and Ann Mollow (Eds.), Sex and Disability (pp. 231-255). Duke University Press
Markowitz, F.E., & Engelman, D.J. (2017). The “own” and the “wise”: Does stigma status buffer or exacerbate social rejection of college students with a mental illness? Deviant Behav., 38(7), 744–755. doi:10.1080/01639625.2016.1197673
Outcomes
Explain the meaning and use of the concepts of normality and normativity;
Apply the concept of ‘the gaze’ to issues of crime, illness, and disability;
Consider impairment and disability as embodied and subjective experiences;
Describe the basic models of disability;
Apply a critical lens to issues of normalcy and deviance.
In Module 2,
You will see that models for understanding disability sometimes have competing aims and directions; indeed critical perspectives can challenge or advance earlier concepts. Critical disability theory extends and/or challenges the concept of normalcy. In Module 2, we move beyond traditional theories of crime, illness, and disability and become better equipped to see the mechanisms of moral and social regulation as well as the underpinnings of ideas about normal and not normal. The concepts of the gaze and of stigma are also introduced in Module 2. One of the most interesting and engaging readings in Module 2 is that of Riva Lehrer, who describes navigating the social and cultural expectations of the dating world.
Thinking Critically About Disability
In order for us to continue to think about disability, it is helpful to understand where disability theorizing has been and where it is headed. In your upcoming Davis reading, nine models of disability are outlined. This is a good place to start thinking about disability. Note that the way that disability is framed and perceived is connected quite directly to how people with disabilities experience the world around them. Note also that from this perspective – how people with disabilities experience the world around them – we are making a subtle shift in perspective. People with disabilities have traditionally been the object of observation and intervention and are now more directly involved with defining themselves and determining more precise language around disability, impairment, and ability. This is called a person-first approach and represents a critical perspective.
Although disability studies is a relatively new field of study, it has been around long enough to have developed into critical thought and self-reflection similar to the histories of other groups of people that have experienced oppression and violence. In this latter vein of theory, some (Shelley Tremain, for example) would argue that there is no such grouping, regardless of semantic politics and kinder terminology of a disabled other. This position is more philosophical than medical or sociological—it rests on the assumption that all human beings are sometimes strong and healthy and at the same time always at risk of losing this precarious status. It is an interesting position but one that can be criticized for its failure to recognize the very real and embodied experience of physical pain, social isolation, economic and material oppression, and violence that some impairments and disabilities incur.
Take the time to read:
“Introduction: Normality, Power and Culture” by Davis
“Critical Disability Theory” by Hall (The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Defining and Returning a Critical Gaze
Riva Lehrer provides us with a rich narration about living in a body that the medical gaze has rendered fascinating. Lehrer, and others at the forefront of disability theory, are as interested in challenging the culture of ableism as they are interested in the process of medicalization. In your first reading, Lehrer uses metaphors and visual/visceral imagery to convey the experience of living in a body that encounters the world as heavy and oppressive—one might say that the world for Lehrer is a gated community, complete with a “gauntlet of security gates and doors” (231), but that the gates and doors offer protection as well from the gaze of the “pedestrian road where Us collides with Them” (232).
Through Lehrer, we begin to examine and look back at the medical gaze, commonly understood as a perspective, which renders one to the constitution of a specimen or a potential threat. It should be noted also that people with disability have historically had to fight for the same rights as others take for granted. We will come to see that because of their disability or illness, many people have been abused, neglected, and murdered in institutions such as hospitals, asylums, and residential schools.
Lehrer provides us with a way into the medicalization of her own disabled, and especially valued, body. Lehrer responds with curiosity and with a critique of her own to the hostile medical gaze that sees her as a frightening specimen in a jar. Lehrer also addresses and returns the gaze of her mother who is frightened by the process through which her daughter is moving beyond the relative safety of her childhood. See if you can determine what it is that Lehrer’s mother is so afraid of. Included also in this section is a thoughtful consideration of the experiences of stigma and self-reflection. Note that Riva Lehrer engages with her own perceptions and those of others with whom she has significant interactions at a distanced and at a very intimate level. Markowitz enriches the experience of being on the outside looking in that Lehrer is essentially referring to. See if you can make some connections between the two perspectives.
Take the time now to read:
“Golem Girl Gets Lucky” by Lehrer
“The “Own” and the “Wise”: Does Stigma Status Buffer or Exacerbate Social Rejection of College Students with a Mental Illness?” by Markowitz and Engelman
Reflect on the following questions:
In what ways are you normal? (List five examples, such as, I think I have a normal appetite.)
In what ways do you deviate from normal? (List five examples, such as I think I like chocolate more than most people.)
What is it that tells you that you are in the normal range?
Under what circumstance would you find it unpleasant or uncomfortable to be in the ‘not normal’ or above or below average range?
After working through the required readings, you will now be viewing Lehrer’s lecture titled A Self-Portrait in Formaldehyde. She says that in viewing the bodies in jars that are held at the Mütter Museum, she saw herself represented for the first time as a ‘collectible’ object. She discusses the challenge of remaining objective when one is presented with such a stark signifier of non-normativity–one’s body is a site worthy of collection and study, rehabilitation, and curiosity. Lehrer then presents portraits of other non-normative bodies, as aesthetically rendered and authentic representations of humans in the everyday world. (If you are interested, look up the Mütter Museum to see its history and its collection of specimens and papers. You may also be interested in viewing more of Lehrer’s art.)
As you are watching the following video, reflect on Lehrer’s experiences. Notice that Lehrer is aware that the Mütter Museum is a particular type of museum for particular types of people. It has a reputation as being a particularly creepy museum. Note also that Lehrer attempts to remain detached; she claims to be there because of her interest in anthropology. But there is something much more personal for Lehrer at the museum. This video speaks to the notion of representation. Bodies can be constructed as deviant, undesirable, or dangerous through constant cultural representation in some spaces and fairly predictable cultural exclusion from other spaces. This video is meant to get you to think about the ways that some bodies are presented to us as normal and others as outside of or as threatening to that category.
Assignment
Watch Lehrer’s video:
Riva Lehrer: A Self-Portrait in Formaldehyde
After watching Lehrer’s video, write a 1 page double spaced about the following.
Consider some of the reflections presented above, about Lehrer’s experience of seeing a representation of herself in a jar. Think about some of the ways that people who are non-normative are constructed as deviant and frightening. You should form your ideas primarily from Lehrer’s reflections as these are presented in her talk, but you can include examples from other cultural representations (or misrepresentations) of people with various disabilities.
