tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post115800406933280374..comments2024-01-26T10:20:37.836+00:00Comments on Diary of a Goldfish: Liberté, Égalité, Fratenité #3The Goldfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15213378454070776331noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-1158755745424183222006-09-20T13:35:00.000+01:002006-09-20T13:35:00.000+01:00Hey there,I wanted to let you know that this post ...Hey there,<BR/><BR/>I wanted to let you know that this post was nominated & selected for the 23rd edition of Carnival of Feminists. You can read the Carnival here at Lingual Tremors. (http://www.fervidus.typepad.com)<BR/><BR/>If I've made any mistakes, please email and I'll fix it as soon as possible.<BR/><BR/>I really hope you enjoy reading the COF. Thank you so much for your wonderful post & your amazing voice on the blogosphere.<BR/><BR/>Cheers!<BR/>Lingual XLingual Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07293669455308788787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-1158094236136878582006-09-12T21:50:00.000+01:002006-09-12T21:50:00.000+01:00That is true and well put, Goldfish.I think part o...That is true and well put, Goldfish.<BR/><BR/>I think part of it is that a lot of disabled people get as far as "I am disabled by society's attitude towards me and the barriers society puts in my way."<BR/><BR/>I can only really and authoritatively draw on my own experiences when someone says "so, specifically, what do we need to do? What would it take for you to be able to do activity X? What barriers are in your way? What attitudes do we need to adjust?"<BR/><BR/>I can come up with half-hearted ideas like, I need to be able to get to and from the place, I need there to be somewhere quiet I am able to sit down and switch off at a moments' notice, I need there to be something I can hold onto in the loos, I need people to not expect that they have a right to my full medical history.<BR/><BR/>But the real answer is that even if all this were in place, I'd still feel iffy about everything I attempt, until such time as my body and my brain are in better working order.<BR/><BR/>I thus feel, I don't know, is "schismed" a word? from the group "disabled people" as a whole. Because rather than being a Society Needs To Sort Itself Out Warrior, I'm lying on my bed feeling that the crux of my disability lies with my messed up and unreliable brain and body, and that even in the most perfectly accessible world I would still be disabled. It makes me feel a bit like a traitor, or like I shouldn't have a say on accessibility at all.Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11639094548415759560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-1158066000007570492006-09-12T14:00:00.000+01:002006-09-12T14:00:00.000+01:00Sly, The thing is that, from a liberal position, I...<B>Sly</B>, <BR/><BR/>The thing is that, from a liberal position, I want to allow folks as much negative freedom as possible. The reasons I think that's a better way to go about things are the reasons that I believe in liberalism. <BR/><BR/>Hmm... will ponder this and try to clarify in a later post I think. Not so good today.<BR/><BR/><BR/><B>Mary</B>,<BR/><BR/>I'm in much the same boat and I consider myself <I>unemployable</I> - at least when it comes to any conventional work. I am dopey today, but perhaps this might help. When I wrote about <A HREF="http://blobolobolob.blogspot.com/2006/04/social-model-of-disability.html" REL="nofollow">the Social Model of Disability</A>, I quoted a bit from The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebhur;<BR/><BR/><I>God grant me the serenity<BR/>to accept the things I cannot change;<BR/>courage to change the things I can;<BR/>and wisdom to know the difference.</I><BR/><BR/>And that sums it up for me; this perspective <I>accepts</I> that there are limitations caused by impairment, economics and sheer practicality which are unmoveable. For people with conditions like ours, these unmoveable limitations are significant. You and I cannot expect to get jobs, for example - at least not through social change; a medical breakthrough or remission may be another matter.<BR/><BR/>However, there are still ways in which we face obstacles which we <I>do not absolutely need to face</I>. And whatever they are, the problematic attitudes and mechanisms for change are very similar across the board.The Goldfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15213378454070776331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-1158048927293685502006-09-12T09:15:00.000+01:002006-09-12T09:15:00.000+01:00But the thing is, right, I am disabled, yes? By wh...But the thing is, right, I am disabled, yes? By whatever definitions used, few people would argue it. Not even the damn benefits agency argued it and that's saying something.<BR/><BR/>But I have trouble thinking of a job I could <I>effectively</I> do.<BR/><BR/>I do not have the physical capacity or energy to do anything physically demanding or strenuous. This is a symptom of my illness. No amount of people being understanding or flexible will change this, no amount of legislation or policy either. A physical job then, for me, is out of the question.<BR/><BR/>So let's think office. I mean yeah, I could put on a suit and trundle off to an interview and someone could assign me a desk and put a computer and some tasks on it.<BR/><BR/>IF they didn't mind when those tasks got done.<BR/>IF they didn't mind me vanishing for a week or two because I couldn't leave my home.<BR/>IF they didn't mind that any task I did would have to be checked over by someone, as another one of my symptoms that no amount of understanding or legislation will change is that my brain is NOT reliable and I DO make mistakes, frequently.<BR/><BR/>Okay, so an office job is out, as they would have to employ two people - me, and then somebody to look after me and check I'm doing things right and actually, why not just pay one person to do it right first time?<BR/><BR/>Let's scale down to less responsibility perhaps, let's sit me on a checkout. Sitting, and health and safety give me a comfortable chair, and it's not brain-work.<BR/><BR/>What do you mean, they want to KNOW in advance when I will be well enough to leave my home and come into the building to work, so that they can organise my shift patterns? Wanting reliable employees, these people, sheesh, what next, they'll get upset about the fact I hold up the queue because I get a splitting headache and can't move much less serve people, and they have to pay me to have a headache for an hour, and someone else to look after me, while they're unexpectedly a staff member down... or something.<BR/><BR/>Do you see what I mean? If someone has the capacity to do a job, they should be considered on equal grounds - if my brain was perfectly fine, I would find it unfair to be not considered for an office position because I had no legs and used a wheelchair.<BR/><BR/>But if someone <I>doesn't</I> have the capacity to do a job as effectively as another candidate, there comes a point where that needs accepting.Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11639094548415759560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-1158048819899682562006-09-12T09:13:00.000+01:002006-09-12T09:13:00.000+01:00I think you are right, Goldfish, the battle is to ...I think you are right, Goldfish, the battle is to get people to listen to the argument in the first place.<BR/><BR/>All too often it turns out that the discrimination is a result of an unthinking, knee-jerk reaction on someone's part: "s/he isn't capable of this-or-that because s/he is too old/to young/in a wheelchair/blind/deaf/female/whatever" ad infinitum. And the decider usually has no personal knowledge of the condition cited (except perhaps for gender, although I doubt this when I think of some of the seriously dumb excuses given for restricting women's opportunities). Or, worse, the decider is doing what s/he thinks someone senior would want, or think, and often it turns out that the guy/gal at the top has no prejudice at all - they just didn't know what some eager brown-noser in middle management was up to.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-1158024543172908082006-09-12T02:29:00.000+01:002006-09-12T02:29:00.000+01:00"And coercion does not win arguments."But i think ..."And coercion does not win arguments."<BR/><BR/>But i think these types of legislation depend on the premise that a certain amount of coercion does initalize the process of winning the argument. Like you say, it forces the social recognition that an argument is in place.<BR/><BR/>But I'd go further. I think social change can be (and by definition, has to be) fueled by power. Whether that is state power formally expressed, or cultural power eminating from popular figures and examples...I don't know of a structural difference between social and legal power that would make one sucessful and the other fail.<BR/><BR/>I guess i fail to see the draconian nature of using criminal law for these ends. We make such moves all the time. Tax evasion, graft, bribery are all social crimes, ones that negatively impact the ability of the society to function. All criminal offences, ones that I would place in the same category as discriminatory hiring. Unlawful contracts for employment are prosecuted all the time.benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03082138040950123534noreply@blogger.com