February 2, 2026 - 18:18
In this chapter, Lennard Davis explains that the idea of “normal” is not natural. It developed alongside modern science and statistics. Once averages became important, bodies and minds were measured and compared to one another. This made it possible to label some people as normal and others as abnormal. Disability, in this framework, exists because these standards exist. Davis shows that normality has power because it sets expectations and decides who fits into society. Davis also connects these ideas to eugenics. When science defined certain bodies as defective, it was used to justify controlling who could reproduce. Although eugenics is often treated as a historical issue, Davis argues that its logic still appears today. This can be seen in how disabled people are discussed in debates about immigration and reproduction, especially when they are described as burdens or as less valuable. Before this reading, I had not noticed how strongly ideas about what is “normal” versus “non-normal” are shaped by media narratives and long histories of persecution. Davis gives a clear example of this when he discusses how statistical tools like the bell curve were used to define the “average” body and treat anyone outside that range as abnormal or defective. Over time, these measurements were presented as objective facts, even though they carried social and political assumptions. This helped me see that stereotypes about disability are not random or harmless, but are tied to historical systems that ranked and excluded certain bodies, and that these same ideas still influence how disabled people are talked about in immigration and reproductive debates today.