Disability is not Diversity?

[funnel101]

It just struck me that whenever diversity is talked about, disability is almost never included. We'll talk about how racial minorities, and GLBTQ people were well-represented at this year's DNC but not at the RNC, but what about people with disabilities? Do we not count? Do we not have a voice?

Comments

[kibbles]

Very good point.

You know, for those 'community organizer' icons that everyone is going ga-ga over, is there even one face for ANY kind of disability?

[memoriesofearth]

We're a little too diverse to be described in a soundbite. We can't be pigeonholed into one concrete niche. We have a chorus of voices singing on a broader scale about more things than any convention organizer has known what to do with. What they will do so often ends up causing what I call the poster child problem, where one face blown up to 24 x 36, commonly for exploitation purposes, is shoved into an ill-fitting rectangle and somehow supposed to go it alone and represent all of us. Christopher Reeve, or Natalie du Toit, or whoever the media's Gimp Superhero of the Month is.

[youngpadowan]

i have to agree.
after my summer spent on a special needs camp... i realized that to people, there is no difference between "special needs", "diabled" and literally "crazy". we had some kind there who were fully physically able, but simply certifiably insane (as in, lived in an asylum).
so... who gets spoken for when it comes to disabilities?
the person with CP in a wheelchair?
the person who hears voices?
the person whose IQ is 40?

who do you pick?
and to poster child thing? totally spot on.

[kibbles]

Right but other groups are diverse as well, and those icons prove that. There were a LOT of people representing different races and issues and the like. It's not looking for ONE VOICE, but just to represent the voice. WIth, preferably, MORE than one. That's the whole point. That the diversity isn't represented AT ALL.

[dragonxbait]

Mostly unrelated, but part of the NEAYC accreditation requirements for childcare centers, is including diversity in your classroom (books, pictures, activities, etc) and the definitely include "disability" as part of that. This tends to be visible disabilities, in practice, though, like children in wheelchairs.

[sageincave]

A lot of people have invisible disabilities. I mean, I doubt I would be able to pick you out of a crowd as "disabled". And if the camera focused on a guy in a wheelchair more than once at a convention, I'd probably be the first to accuse the network of trying to "exploit his disability" for shock value.

I understand that McCain is disabled (his arm).