Author: sjoshi

            Something that has stuck out to me throughout this course is the way other people influence the way a person views their own disability. We have frequently discussed, in both small and large groups, that the idea of a disability is already socially constructed, and the way that both nondisabled and other people with disabilities treat another person’s disability can affect their outlook on themselves and their worth. This concept recurs heavily with the character of Colin in The Secret Garden. The difference in this scenario is that, as far as the audience and Mary can tell, Colin does not have a disability, but rather has been convinced by those around him that he already has one, and will develop more and likely die early because of his conditions. This sort if maltreatment comes from every adult that has taken care of him, including his own father. When Mary first meets Colin, and she asks him why he is locked up in that room, he states that “[his] father hates to think that [he] may be like him,” (Burnett 159). This is referring to the hunch in Mr. Craven’s back, which everyone around them views as a deformity and something to be ashamed of, which has been projected onto this young child. The family and the servants feel as though looking different from everyone else around them is something to be ashamed of, and as a result, they tried to “fix” Colin, before he even showed signs of developing any sort of disability. Colin describes how “[he] used to wear an iron thing to keep [his] back straight” but a doctor made him take it off (160). This is a good and sensible thing for the doctor to have done, considering a brace doesn’t necessarily mean that Colin’s quality of life would improve, nor did he even need it in the first place. However, it is implicit through the rest of the conversation on the topic that Colin resents this doctor for trying to make him see that he didn’t need the brace. This makes it clear that not only does Colin believe he actually has a condition, when really he has just been deprived of sunlight and regular activity, but that anything less than what is viewed as “normal” is something to obsess over and immediately “correct”. The other side of Colin’s projected disability is making him believe that he is going to die at a young age, which is a horribly frightening thing to place on a child, especially with the implication that he will die because of a disability he doesn’t have. This makes the association in the child’s mind that it is not worth living with this disability, or that those who are disabled cannot live as long as those who are abled. The way the adults around him have presented this prospect actually frightens him, breeding, somehow, both a fear of living and of dying. Colin tells Mary that when he thinks about the idea that he could die any second, he will “cry and cry”, but as seen later on in the book, when he gets even the faintest hint that he might be developing a hunch in his back, it throws him into a full-blown panic attack (164). If the adults around Colin, including his own father, hadn’t projected their fear of a disabled child or person onto Colin for his whole life, then he wouldn’t have grown up fearful of developing a disability. Unfortunately, this is something that is still common in the modern day, even as people attempt to become more conscious and aware of the fact that there is nothing wrong with having a disability. Doctors still attempt to “cure” whatever disability someone might have, and if they cannot, they still contemplate the idea of killing the person under the guise that they won’t live a quality life—which is simply untrue. Colin is just as much of a victim of societal projections as someone in the modern day might be.

WC: 675

Taylor Boris, Daniel Huffman, Keona May, Sonia Joshi (note taker)

Sonia: interesting view of what’s considered a disability, never thought of radiation victims as disabled

Keona: connected to another class, exposure for radiation, eye opening

Daniel: breaking down what is or isn’t a disability and also getting into what defines a disability 

Taylor: interesting that Japanese culture to have a whole word for people disabled by radiation. Prosthetics metaphor?

Keona: prosthetic means “fixed” but not everyone needs those 

Taylor: generalization of prosthesis, everyone under one cloud and needing to expand the definition of disability 

Sonia: good to present the generalization to make people aware and break down their preconceived notions 

Daniel: there’s no signifier for disability, but people think there is Taylor: something you think you would see

Keona: agree. Going back to TKAM, view of disability has changed, related it to physical sight 

Sonia: jokes about severe disfigurement are commonly associated w/ radiation poisoning 

Daniel: non-visible effects of radiation vs. visible, initial radiation makes people physically sick which is disabling 

Taylor: article focuses on can vs. can’t see, which has been a big focus of this class

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Group Members: Elena, Lu, Keona, Katie, Sonia

Elena: Models erase experiences
Sonia: Models create limits, boxes someone in
Keona: No one lived experience, any category creates limits
Elena: relation to Language and Gender
Katie: Limiting potential
Katie: No one experience is the same and that discredits models
Lu: social model doesn’t put the blame on disabled, but they can apply it to any person, which can be harmful. Some things are reserved for certain groups (CODA example). Self-ableism
Elena: education is privilege, higher chance of lack of access if in oppressed group, relates back to shaving legs
Sonia: Ease of discrimination (not putting in a ramp example), pretty scary how subtle discrimination can be
Katie: Awareness increased by this class
Lu: gov’t determines who gets benefits, great controversy because of that, article sent about abortions and down syndrome
Sonia: ties into imagined futures, making the decision for the child
Elena: lack of autonomy, multitude of reasons for abortion after finding out child has autism, chronic illness and pain don’t like model of disability b/c it erases their experience. All ties into capitalism!!
Lu: we can’t define things for other people– imagined futures, no one asks how disabled person feels about decisions
Sonia: cure or kill is back
Elena: placing worth of disabled people on their cost of existing, think about people in relation to abled lives
Katie: base disabled lives off the lives of abled people, very corrupt
Elena: bring it back to capitalism, rise of communes on TikTok (community that is egalitarian is ableist fantasy, disabled people can’t perform physical labor, which is how that society works)

TKAM
Elena: Underwood editorial and the premise of not shooting mockingbirds, similar as men saying “I would never hit a woman”, doesn’t make me feel empowered, preventing violence against women but still misguided
Sonia: relates back to “I didn’t know it was ableist”, doesn’t actually help the issue because there’s no action taken, what are you doing about that?
Elena: “band-aid fixes”, saying you’re not one way or wouldn’t do something actually addresses the issue but still comes from place that creates the issue, a lot of people don’t know what it’s like to be disabled, still others people

Sonia: blaming Tom Robinson for his death b/c of his disability, instead of the people who shot him
Elena: erases experience of disability, chances of dying would have been similar w/ escape, circumstances are dire
Katie: 17 shots was way more than needed
Elena: relates to shooting of black people, excessive shots, clearly because of racism
Keona: agrees with that, all intersections play a part in discrimination