My last post brought up the issue of how to best advocate for peoples with disabilities; by defining them as a separate group to raise awareness and advocate for equality, or to consider them de facto as equal to others and not use divisive language in referring to them.
This issue came to mind when I read about a Supreme Court Decision a few weeks ago concerning race and segregation. At issue was the Louisville School District’s decision to achieve equal amounts of white and black students in each school by bussing kids around town depending on if they were white or black. The court ruled against this action arguing that the city should be color blind by not using race as a deciding factor in decision about school placement. A good article that is now only partially available on the subject was in the New York Times on July 1st. The abstract states:
“Since 1954, liberal and conservative justices have disagreed about the central meaning of Brown v. Board of Education. Was the purpose of Brown to achieve a colorblind society or an integrated one?”
Without directly comparing issues of race and those of disability, I think the issue raised in the article can also apply in relation to disability. As is usually the case with two valid positions on either side of an argument, the solution lies somewhere in the middle. For both race and disability, I believe that in order to establish and demonstrate the injustices being done to a group, that group must be distinguished from others so that others can see the wrong-doing. However, when this position is applied too heavily, as I believe it was in the case of Louisville School District, sight of the goal can be lost.
Don’t we ultimately we want a society where neither race nor disability (nor gender nor sexuality) are factors in the way we are treated? We are all people and in the most profound sense, we are all the same. However, it would be a lie and a tragedy to deny that we have differences that make us interesting and wonderful people. The line must be carefully navigated to ensure that advocacy does not divide more than it unites.
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2 comments:
I think it really comes down to familiarity....how familiar you are with someone with ___________, that is how __________-blind you are to the issue. For most of us, we live in a somewhat sheltered world, dealing with the same familiar faces - then all of a sudden we encounter opposition to our __________ and are taken aback. This plays out in myriad situations.....
I think people tend to have a problem with difference in general. It takes them out of their comfort zone and then they don't know how to act or what to say. Recently I attended a conference. On the closing night, they had a band and people were dancing. the first folks on the dance floor were a disabled man, in a chair and his wife. They were dancing..he was deftly moving his chair around the floor and she was following the rhythm. What an inspiration!
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