5 Disability/Ability/Neurodivergence

Defining Dis/ability & Neurodiversity

Disability studies “analyzes the effects of disability-based marginalization even as the field advocates for expanding the concept of diversity to include disability” (Dolmage, 2017, p. 5). If the idea of disability-based marginalization is new to you, you may be wondering what this kind of marginalization looks like and where it comes from. To answer these questions, we need to take a quick dive into one of the most ubiquitous words we use: normal.

Normal

When we use the word ‘normal,’ we are often signaling that conditions are as we expect them to be. Consider two expressions universities began using in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps you heard similar messaging in your schools or communities at that time.

1. While the beginning of the semester was once again marked by COVID precautions, we have now been able to roll back many of these restrictions and are optimistic about the low positivity rate in our community. We will, of course, continue to monitor our situation and make changes as necessary, but for now, campus is starting to feel almost “normal”! As I told your students, although campus life is slowly returning to normal, we should not discount the exceptional challenges that we have faced, and continue to face, during the pandemic. (Dean of Undergraduates of Rice University, Bridget Gorman, “A Message from Dean Gorman,” emphasis added)
2. “As classes are scheduled to begin Monday, we continue to tackle the changes required to operate under a “new normal.” I am confident we are prepared, given the fluid situation, to provide the tools and instruction needed to complete the Spring 2020 semester. I know our Bearkat community is comprised of dedicated individuals who will rise to the challenges presented to us.” (then-President of Sam Houston State University, Dana Hoyt, “Letter from the President,” emphasis added)

What do you notice about these two examples? Both of these university messages come from similar regions of the United States (southeast Texas), yet they use ‘normal’ to signal two different descriptions of campus life. Rice University informs parents and families of students that campus is in the process of “returning to normal,” which suggests that experience of living and learning at Rice University prior to the pandemic is achievable and in the foreseeable future, while Sam Houston State University does not pretend this situation is possible. Instead, they level with students, promising only a “new normal.” While readers aren’t given enough information to know what this “new normal” is, the phrase suggests some optimism that campus life will look similar to what it had been before the spring 2020 semester, but it anticipates that students will not experience it as such and attempts to prepare students to have more measured expectations.

Both phrases, however, highlight how the concept of ‘normal’ works. As you have met and connected with peers on campus, you undoubtedly have noticed that not everyone experiences the Saint Mary’s campus or community in the same way. While many of us have similar experiences (such as taking the same WRIT 101 section), we will experience them in different ways. How we are seen and how we engage in any given space is informed by our embodiment, which we learned in Chapter 1, is composed of our cultural, gendered, linguistic, and racial identities, as well as the identities we project (or are interpreted by others) related to our sexual orientation or disability status.

Language & Power

When we use a phrase like “he is/she is/they are just a normal guy/gal/non-binary pal/human,” we usually aren’t in the practice of unpacking what that means and which human characteristics we consider to be normal. Unless you grew up in a community where you regularly interacted with disabled individuals, chances are good that you don’t usually use “normal” to describe a friend with a verbal tic or a classmate who stims in class. We even characterize the person (or their behavior) as ‘weird,’ ‘distracting,’ or ‘inappropriate.’ Disability studies scholar Tanya Titchosky offers a helpful explanation for why we might respond the embodiment of disability in these ways: “both in everyday life and in the human sciences, ‘normal’ often appears as if it is a static state of affairs, and when people are said to have an unwanted condition, they may be deemed to have an abnormality” (Titchosky, “Normal,” p. 130).

If you are interested in learning more about stimming and autism, you could read more about it in the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network’s About Autism.

In other words, to be seen as normal is to be presumed to be a member in a community. Able-bodiedness is most commonly perceived to be the standard, normal embodied configuration, leading to an assumption that disabilities and neurodivergence are deviations from a “normal” body and mind. To have a normal body is to have a body that is normal and to be able to move around the world (intellectually, physically, socially, and otherwise) without needing assistance. Disability activists often refer to the condition of able-bodiedness as temporary able-bodiedness because most—if not all—folks will experience types of disabilities at some point in their lives. Here are just a few examples:

• A need for a mobility device (crutches, scooters, etc.) due to a broken leg.
• Visual impairments corrected with contacts or glasses.
• Hearing disabilities that emerge naturally throughout the aging process.

If you are interested in learning more about the language used by disabled activists and communities, you could read more about it in the National Disability Rights Network’s Communicating About People with Disabilities.

Seeing the Theory at Work

Let’s experiment with the idea of normality and how it leads to disability-based marginalization. Our identities related to disability, neurodivergence, and other facets of diversity can be communicated through our writing, even when we are not present with our audiences! If this is true, we can also assume that writers’ assumptions about their readers’ embodiment might also show up in how they compose.

Let’s test this theory by applying the idea of normality to a YouTube video created by the Cerebral Palsy Foundation.

In 2017, a film crew from the Cerebral Palsy Foundation challenged writer and comedian Zach Anner to travel from Manhattan to Brooklyn to get a famous New York delicacy: a rainbow bagel. Zach enthusiastically accepted the quest and, in his hotel room, Zach and the crew planned their route using Google Maps. They learned that the travel time should be about 24 minutes long—an easy enough task.

Zach, however, is skeptical that Google Maps’ prediction will be right because, as viewers learn rather quickly, Zach is not just a comedian and a writer for award-winning sitcoms. He has cerebral palsy, a brain disorder that impacts bodily movement, muscle tone, and posture caused by injury to a person’s brain before, during, or after birth. Cerebral palsy impacts each person differently. Some have minor problems with movement and coordination while others (like Zach) have more visible signs of C.P. Zach, as you will see in the video, is a wheelchair rider.

If you want to know more about cerebral palsy, view Zach’s video on the top 10 list of things he wishes people knew about cerebral palsy!

As you watch the video, consider your guesses about Zach’s journey as well as what your own might look like. Pay particular attention to:

1. How Zach’s identities show up in the ‘text’ (the video and what we experience related to: his speech, how his body appears on screen, how he moves about the world, and how others interact with him).
2. What assumptions might have been made by Google Maps developers, city planners, and governmental officials as it relates to disability signage, access to public transit, and travel directions and maps.

Now sit back and watch Zach’s quest unfold (view time is 6:57)!

Video 5.1. Zach Anner and the quest for the rainbow bagel by Cerebral Palsy Foundation

Embodied Writing

Disability-related identities, as we have observed, are not often part of the imagined audiences for many common forms of writing like transportation signage, travel instructions, and maps. Literacy, too, is impacted by our embodied experiences with disability and able-bodiedness. Aurora Cullerton, a former student of a first-year writing class much like yours at Michigan State University wrote her literacy narrative about how her hearing disability impacted her experiences learning to read and write. You can download the text from the website, but I encourage you to watch the video recording and read alongside it. How have your experiences with reading and writing been shaped by your identities surrounding disability and able-bodiedness?