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capri0mniJust a word or two on word choices (because it's something I've been thinking about, these past few weeks, and that's what these journal thingies are for, right?):
There are those (many, most, nearly all, maybe I'm the odd one out...) who see words like "crippled" and "lame" to refer to people with physical (especially mobility-related) disabilities as unequivocally derogatory, like the N# word, or the R# word.
A year and a bit ago, when I started collecting folktales and other pre-modern literature featuring disabilities, I knew I was going to come across these two particular words a lot. And I had a decision to make: do I reproduce these words faithfully, as they appear in the original (or translations of the original)? Or should I bowlderize them, and replace the offending words with "Mobility impaired," "couldn't/can't walk," etc.
Now, as an English Major, and lover of the Humanities, I can't abide bowlderization. ...after all, the words are part of the history, and the history is part of the understanding, and understanding is crucial to finding justice.
So I made a conscious decision to keep those words in each story as I find them.
And after that, I found I was no longer offended by the words themselves, but only as they've ended up being used in the generations through which I've lived (yes, by now, I've lived through multiple generations -- I'm surprised by this, too).
Used as a simple descriptive word for human being who crawls more easily than s/he/ou walks upright, "crippled" (from the same root as "creep," and "crawl") is no more derogatory than "Wheelchair-" or "Crutch-User") --
Except this same word has been used extensively (or even mostly) to refer to things that aren't even human -- an example:
"The wide-spread power outage on the East Coast today crippled Internet trading, and the Stock Market fell seventy points."
So, then, the word, which once was used as a simple descriptor (even self-descriptor) in literature of the past, has become "Dehumanizing" because it's been used to describe every thing that's ever been broken. And people are not things, and people don't break (in the same way cars do).
So -- in light of that, I've decided to refer to myself as "crippled" and/or "lame," because, by their first meanings, that's what I am. I will, however, take a ten-mile word detour (if I have to) to avoid applying either of these words to any abstract thing (like the stock market, or Government) or inanimate object.
Does this make any sense?
There are those (many, most, nearly all, maybe I'm the odd one out...) who see words like "crippled" and "lame" to refer to people with physical (especially mobility-related) disabilities as unequivocally derogatory, like the N# word, or the R# word.
A year and a bit ago, when I started collecting folktales and other pre-modern literature featuring disabilities, I knew I was going to come across these two particular words a lot. And I had a decision to make: do I reproduce these words faithfully, as they appear in the original (or translations of the original)? Or should I bowlderize them, and replace the offending words with "Mobility impaired," "couldn't/can't walk," etc.
Now, as an English Major, and lover of the Humanities, I can't abide bowlderization. ...after all, the words are part of the history, and the history is part of the understanding, and understanding is crucial to finding justice.
So I made a conscious decision to keep those words in each story as I find them.
And after that, I found I was no longer offended by the words themselves, but only as they've ended up being used in the generations through which I've lived (yes, by now, I've lived through multiple generations -- I'm surprised by this, too).
Used as a simple descriptive word for human being who crawls more easily than s/he/ou walks upright, "crippled" (from the same root as "creep," and "crawl") is no more derogatory than "Wheelchair-" or "Crutch-User") --
Except this same word has been used extensively (or even mostly) to refer to things that aren't even human -- an example:
"The wide-spread power outage on the East Coast today crippled Internet trading, and the Stock Market fell seventy points."
So, then, the word, which once was used as a simple descriptor (even self-descriptor) in literature of the past, has become "Dehumanizing" because it's been used to describe every thing that's ever been broken. And people are not things, and people don't break (in the same way cars do).
So -- in light of that, I've decided to refer to myself as "crippled" and/or "lame," because, by their first meanings, that's what I am. I will, however, take a ten-mile word detour (if I have to) to avoid applying either of these words to any abstract thing (like the stock market, or Government) or inanimate object.
Does this make any sense?
no subject
Date: 2012-06-06 10:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-06 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-06 02:15 pm (UTC)As to the word "cripple", though, it's one that I've been battling with in my day-to-day speech, so it's helpful to see you talking through it for yourself. Purely on the level where I over-invest the sounds of words with meaning, "cripple" is beautiful to me, and the rhythm of it is fantastic. The meaning? Rather more ambivalent. Seeing you accept it on the basis of etymology and pervious use rather than current handling is helpful, because it's a word I want to recover.
To be honest, I also find that it has the snap in sound and association needed when you're in a humorous and sarcastic mood, i.e. "Yes, I do seem to be running into a lot of things. It's because I'm a cripple today." But that is not at all a good use of it, huh?
no subject
Date: 2012-06-06 04:32 pm (UTC)I'm not exactly certain when the turning point for this decision was, but it may have been around the time I was having those joyful dreams of crawling through the world. I think that's when I realized, despite being pushed into a vertical existence by physical therapists at an early age, my deepest, truest self-identity is as someone who creeps... Even if I haven't actually done much of it in years, and when called upon to actually "commando crawl" in the waking world, certain muscles start to complain loudly.
Also, in the Disability Community, "crip" has the same sort of meaning as "fag" or "queer" do, in the Gay Community -- a prideful label, as long as it's used within the community ... as in "Super Crip"* or
And yes, the sound of the word is fantastic... the p and l together, yet still distinct is inherently pleasing.
*"Super Crip" is often used bitterly, however, to refer to an "overachieving" disabled person who's used as a club by the TAB's to beat up other disabled people -- such as a paraplegic mountain climber who scaled the face of Mt. Washington, pulling his wheelchair behind him.. so if he can do that, then of course, you should be able to make your own bed... Although to call them "overachieving" is a bit unfair, as I don't know of anyone who wants to be put in that role...
no subject
Date: 2012-06-06 08:09 pm (UTC)The identification with creeping as something meaningful and powerful is... "beautiful" feels embarrassingly strong, but it elicits an emotion that is similar (particularly so far as the specific connotations of the phrase go). Lately I'm feeling more of the dis- of disability and the pain that goes along with it, and that's been compromising my ability to look critically on the why of a lot of the emotions that have risen up as a result, which is to say nothing of my ability to articulate things such as you are here – or, more broadly, finding significance rather than impediment in my experience.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-06 09:36 pm (UTC)And remember, what you see articulated here comes after a whole passel of back and forth and arguing with the world and myself. And no doubt, there will be more to follow this, afterward.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-08 11:44 pm (UTC)Well. The dialogue continues. I've gone from petulant back to thoughtful since I eyed your post with envy, so at least there's that.
As an aside: as someone whose disabilities are by and large invisible, it's incredible to me how folks still manage to flash their ableism at me. I've gotten multiple disparaging comments directed towards the fact that I use the elevators on campus. It doesn't seem to occur to them at all that I might have a *reason* other than "laziness".
no subject
Date: 2012-06-09 12:13 am (UTC)As someone who has graduated out of academia, but has not gone directly from that into meat-space work, I'm largely spared much random contact with the General Public, so I don't have to deal with real-time conversation as much as I used to.
However, I am still alert an sensitive to ableist dialog that's written into television, etc., just as a matter of course... just grr...
I will resist running with it ...
But not for long, I see...
(sorry, I'll get my coat).
no subject
Date: 2012-06-09 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-06 07:54 pm (UTC)John Hockenberry, former NPR reporter, was an over-achiever in his youth, and he really wanted to be! (He climbed the mountains between Iraq and Turkey slung over the back of a donkey, with his wheelchair tied to his body. He had one cath in a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. The UTI possibilities alone are stunning.) At least that was in pursuit of telling the world about the Kurds (sports accomplishments don't do much for me).
Have you read Nancy Mairs? She's embraced "cripple." Being a poet, she shares your deep interest in the English language. She talks about in Waist-High in the World.
Having lived long enough to see the extracurricular meaning of "faggot" move over to "gay," I'm confident that the term for a person with any spoiled identity will be borrowed as an epithet for things that aren't working, or we don't like.
I prefer "gimp," myself, because I can't creep, but can lurch around. Mostly I use it to point out parking, as in, "there's an empty gimp spot." But I'm trying to change that to "accessible," because that's what state law calls them.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-06 10:18 pm (UTC)But that's just a guess, on my part ;-P