September 7, 2014 - 16:23
Throughout the his introduction in Exile & Pride, "The Mountain," Eli Clare consistently describes himself using slurs--for example, many that the nondisabled have assigned to the disabled--'crip,' 'supercrip,' 'gimp,' etc. Some of these, he addresses and explores in depth what it means to identify with and reclaim these names. He works through the many meanings and usages of 'redneck' in a later chapter, tying it to how he identifies with his home while expressing the conflict it creates between his multiple identities, given that its most damaging, stereotyping usage is that taken on by "progressives, including many who are queer: ... 2. Used as a synonym for every type of oppresive belief except classism" (qtd. in Clare 33). As I worked through these names, I drew connections to each. "Crip," I shied away from, cringing at itsuse, as I have always been told never to use it and even have a friend who was on the receiving end of such a slur. I tripped over "gimp," a word engrained in my mind not as a slur but as colorful plastic lace used to make keychains at summercamp. (This, I suppose, must have some history in how it made such a jump.) But at "redneck," I flinched in shame, knowing that I myself have been one of those progressives who has used it as an umbrella term for those who hold oppresive beliefs. I grew up with city-dwelling parents who used it casually as a form of degradation, a marker of backwoods conservatives and the weird family down the street with a rundown pickup truck in the drive and yard adorned by an abandoned barn and a Bush election sign. In using some of these, I suppose Clare is reclaiming as many others have, embracing what was once (and in some cases still is) a common insult as a way of identifying himself. But some, I couldn't help but wonder--is he reclaiming, or is he using them ironically? Is he simply using it to throw it back, to put a label to the people who have been lauded for "overcoming" their "disabilities" to complete the trials of life? (Actually, I just came across another example this morning-- an article entitled "Revealing Portraits Unveil the Beautifully Sexual Lives of People Living with Disabilities.") There is also something to be said about the use of a word as uncomfortable as "crip;" it is certainly never one I've heard anyone attempt to reclaim.
Another word I made note of: nondisabled. In any other context, I've heard those without disabilities refered to (or, more appropriately, refer to themselves as) able-bodied. But nondisabled, a word definitely not employed, draws us into Clare's world. He is not the other: the "able bodied" are. It is the "nondisabled world" which has created the rules and standards that have bound him and others with disabilities (impairments?) to the identity of "disabled," "lock[ed] [them] away in nursing homes," abused them, taken away their ability to live independently and be employed fairly (9). But this world is no longer the default "normal" world: it is the nondisabled world. It is no longer the able-bodied world: it is the nondisabled world. Disabled is the default, and the intruders, the nondisabled, have arranged a shared world in favor of their own standards.