My Body Doesn’t Oppress Me; Society Does
This is a short introduction to the Medical and Social Models of Disability through a conversation between Stacey Milbern Park and Patty Berne. This is updated from a post published here on May 13th, 2017.
My Body Doesn’t Oppress Me; Society Does
It saddens me that both Patty and Stacey have joined the ancestors and left our dimension. I’m also very grateful that they have left a body of work for us to follow, and so much to help us all better understand and clarify aspects of disability culture. Understanding the social and medical models of disability is one such clarification that they’ve helped us all with, as they’ve done in this short video.
It’s a fantastic video. Please watch, share and learn and honor these two beautiful women who gave so much to our community.
PS. Transcript is below the video, and at the end of the transcript are two short videos that are good follow-up videos for Stacey and Patty’s conversation.
Transcript of Conversation:
0:00STACEY MILBERN: So if you and I go to a building and
0:02there’s no ramp typically people think
0:04the problem is that we use wheelchairs.
0:06Whereas a social model of disability would
0:08say the problem is that the building is
0:11not accessible. And it doesn’t seem like
0:13a radical concept, but it changes the
0:16fundamental way we think about
0:17disability, and the work that we need
0:20to do to include people with disabilities.
0:22PATTY BERNE: People often don’t
0:24understand ability to be within this
0:27kind of context and access to adaptive
0:31devices, and where we are located
0:33economically. You know when I have my
0:37access needs met I’m functionally not
0:40disabled, you know? But when places have
0:44stairs and everything is built for
0:47people that stand so I can’t see anything,
0:50and you know, it’s a really dark
0:52environment so I can’t see anything…
0:56because you know, as you get older your vision
0:57changes so now I need a lot of light to
1:00see things. An environment like that, of
1:02course I’m disabled.
1:04STACEY MILBERN: I really like separating out impairment from
1:06disability. So impairment as, you know,
1:10like physical or neurological
1:12manifestation – like what’s real. I have a
1:15physical impairment. And then
1:17disability is like what society creates
1:19as barriers because of the impairment.
1:23So like as you’re saying, if we’re in a
1:24place where my access needs are
1:27getting met then my impairment isn’t so
1:30significant. But when it’s not because
1:33society doesn’t want to, then that’s the
1:36problem. So I think it’s important to
1:39really think about disability and the
1:41context of what is disabling, like the
1:44environment. The last building I worked
1:46in it was really cool because it was
1:49universally designed, so all the doors
1:51had push buttons or they like
1:53magically open, you know, as you walk up,
1:55or everything is like automatically at
1:58my height. And in that place I didn’t
2:00need a lot of accommodations. But then in
2:02an environment where it’s not universally
2:04accessible, where people with
2:06disabilities and parents and all types
2:09of folks weren’t thought of in the
2:11design process,
2:12that’s when there’s problems.
2:14PATTY BERNE: I’m not saying it’s easy to live with an
2:16impairment. It’s not easy to live, you know,
2:18when you have like four kids, it’s not
2:21easy to live when it’s like 20 degrees
2:23outside. And you know,
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2:24for those of us in the Bay Area, 55 is
2:27freezing… but you know. I mean there are
2:30times when it’s just not convenient to
2:32have a body. But that’s not what
2:35oppresses us. What oppresses us is living
2:38in a system which disregards us, is
2:41violent towards us, essentially wants to
2:44subjugate our bodies or kill us.
2:47That’s oppressive. My body doesn’t
2:51oppress me – my body… my body’s fun! But
2:54society – that can be incredibly oppressive.
3:00STACEY MILBERN: I think when we focus on a
3:02person’s individual impairment or
3:05diagnosis, as you said, it kind of like
3:07lets society off the hook. It makes all
3:09the focus on that individual
3:12circumstance, when really ableism and
3:15exclusion and violence happen because of
3:18systems of oppression. So we know it’s
3:21not like an individual person with a
3:23disability that’s the issue, but we can
3:25look at the way, for example with
3:26policing – victims of police violence are
3:2950 percent people with disabilities, if
3:31not more. Or if we look at the
3:34special education system, it’s not the
3:37individual special education student, but
3:40we can see how special education becomes
3:43continued segregation for so many black
3:46and brown students. So when we focus on
3:48like the individual impairment, it kind of
3:50takes away from that bigger picture.
3:53PATTY BERNE: We’re seen as disposable. Because for those of
3:57us that are not going to have like a
3:59treatment or a cure with our bodies,
4:03we kind of fly in the face of this idea
4:05of medicine as God.
4:07So we’re seen as less than.
4:10And you’re awesome!
4:12You’re fabulous and you are beautiful!
4:14And you’re… how could… the idea that some
4:17one would think that you’re less than is just
4:20absurd. Yet that’s the framework
4:23that we’re in.
4:26And it’s incredibly painful.
4:28There are always going to be crips. There are always
4:29going to be, you know, people in pain – it’s
4:33just the nature of being in a body. But the
4:35social body we can change! And that’s… I
4:39think it requires a power analysis.
4:42[Music]
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