November 24, 2014 - 13:29
Just realized I'd never posted my essay proposal, so here's to remedying that.
For my next paper, I am interested in looking at the concept of "disability gain". This is highly based upon the concept of Deaf-Gain proposed by Bauman and Murray, but will also feature some thought by Garland-Thompson. As society frames it, disability is a loss and a deficit. However, disability studies has sought and is in the process of seeking to reframe disability as not just a loss, a deficit, but instead an expression of human difference and variation. This impetus is perhaps strongest in the Deaf community, which has one of the most, if not the most, strongly codified culture. (Deaf culture really seems to seek to portray itself as an ethnic group.)
Thus, this can seem to lead to the concept of what a person can gain when they "lose", when a person is or becomes disabled. The issue with this is that the concept of disability gain is such a new one in the field--though it is in many ways a cultural trope, that of the "genius cripple", as TVTropes has termed it. Garland-Thompson, in fact, just gave a talk on the subject of disability gain at York University two weeks ago. I'm trying to see if I can get my hands on a recording of the talk...
Initially, what had triggered this was a topic I brought up in class, based on my own personal experiences in the spoonie community. I posted on a community Facebook group, about the good things that had come out of being disabled to them, what came into their life because of their life that might not have done so otherwise... This comes back again and again to a refrain I've seen in disability sudies: what is essential for the disabled is dang good for the nondisabled, too.
I'd also be interested in referencing the work of Mat Fraser, who has literally turned his disability into the centerpiece of his artwork/performance.