< Back
For this analysis, I chose to critically analyze the issue of societal stigma against individuals categorized as having mental illness and/or a disability. I use Ray McDermott and Herve Varenne’s text, “Culture as Disability”, as a model for my discussion. The two researchers, in this simultaneously anthropological and educational essay, examine the conception of “disability” in terms of its relation to American educational institutions and preconceived ideas of divisions within a “culture”. McDermott and Verenne maintain that disability, in the way that it works within cultural constructs, refers to “inadequate performances only on tasks that are arbitrarily circumscribed from daily life”. In this way, the dangers and risks of labeling and categorizing individuals can often be a source of social isolation and exclusion for those not “normal”, especially in terms of identifying and making consequential physical (or other) differences between individuals. The authors advocate for readers to examine culture itself as disability, in direct opposition to deprivation or difference approaches. This approach emphasizes that all groups within a culture or society stand in relation to the wider system in which all are a part of. Both dominant and minority groups are constantly affected by wide-scale institutional and political agendas.
Altogether, this essay challenges readers to think about disability a new, enlightening way- with a mind to “sufferers” as subject to isolation, assumed and fictitious societal norms, and over-emphasis on strict demands of success and failure. I found myself wholeheartedly in agreement with the authors’ stance and approach, with their study shedding light on my own personal experiences and observations within society and the classroom.
One example that the authors employ which was highly effective in terms of my own grasping of their central point was the reference and description of H.G. Wells’ short story, “The Country of the Blind” (1904). In this tale, the protagonist called Nunez stumbles upon an isolated valley, a society filled solely with blind persons. While he views himself to be at an advantage due to this ability to see, the society is in fact organized exclusively for the blind down to the smallest detail. Nunez is deemed as “diseased” by the majority, with his brain “in a state of constant irritation and destruction”. After a call for the surgical removal of Nunez’ head, the hero successfully escapes. What was initially deemed as “advantage”, according to Nunez, became “handicap” or “disability” based on the perceived norms and institutions of the larger society. This story seemed to me to be demonstrative of the central thesis of the essay, turning topsy-turvy the idea of what can be perceived as “disability” for a given culture or society, as well as shedding light on the potentially dangerous ramifications categorization and labeling can have on the development and/or inclusion of students and individuals. This relates to the authors’ definition of culture as “not so much a product of sharing as a product of people hammering each other into shape with the well-structured tools already available”.
The authors go on to focus on American education in relation to ideas of disability and culture. They maintain that we must look past the many labels now employed to describe troubled or under-achieving children, such as “deprived”, “different”, “disabled”, or “disadvantaged” and focus on problems as a “product of cultural arrangements- a product of our own activities- as much as a product of the isolated facts about the neurology, personality, language, or culture of any child”. They go on to directly accuse people as using “established cultural forms to define those who do not work on the ‘right’ things, for the ‘right’ reason, or the ‘right’ way”, setting up a society in which many people develop or think they have disabilities.
What I find the most interesting segment of this article is when the authors bring up biological disorders (alcoholism, autism, schizophrenia), learning “disabilities”, (ADD, illiteracy, etc), and others such as eating disorders, anxiety, and depression as all worthy of complex and critical analysis. This really struck me in relation to current and seemingly never-ending stigmas surrounding mental illness in our modern society. Having been diagnosed myself with anxiety and eating disorders in the past, I have always had the assumption that these categories placed me in an “abnormal” section of American society, that I was not able to “think correctly” in relation to the majority of my peers. It was frustrating that these conditions are often treated as nuisances or hindrances to academic and personal development by popular media or those in positions of authority. This article really challenged me to look at mental illness in a different light, with the “culture as disability” approach in mind.
Overall, I agree with McDermott
Altogether, this essay challenges readers to think about disability a new, enlightening way- with a mind to “sufferers” as subject to isolation, assumed and fictitious societal norms, and over-emphasis on strict demands of success and failure. I found myself wholeheartedly in agreement with the authors’ stance and approach, with their study shedding light on my own personal experiences and observations within society and the classroom.
One example that the authors employ which was highly effective in terms of my own grasping of their central point was the reference and description of H.G. Wells’ short story, “The Country of the Blind” (1904). In this tale, the protagonist called Nunez stumbles upon an isolated valley, a society filled solely with blind persons. While he views himself to be at an advantage due to this ability to see, the society is in fact organized exclusively for the blind down to the smallest detail. Nunez is deemed as “diseased” by the majority, with his brain “in a state of constant irritation and destruction”. After a call for the surgical removal of Nunez’ head, the hero successfully escapes. What was initially deemed as “advantage”, according to Nunez, became “handicap” or “disability” based on the perceived norms and institutions of the larger society. This story seemed to me to be demonstrative of the central thesis of the essay, turning topsy-turvy the idea of what can be perceived as “disability” for a given culture or society, as well as shedding light on the potentially dangerous ramifications categorization and labeling can have on the development and/or inclusion of students and individuals. This relates to the authors’ definition of culture as “not so much a product of sharing as a product of people hammering each other into shape with the well-structured tools already available”.
The authors go on to focus on American education in relation to ideas of disability and culture. They maintain that we must look past the many labels now employed to describe troubled or under-achieving children, such as “deprived”, “different”, “disabled”, or “disadvantaged” and focus on problems as a “product of cultural arrangements- a product of our own activities- as much as a product of the isolated facts about the neurology, personality, language, or culture of any child”. They go on to directly accuse people as using “established cultural forms to define those who do not work on the ‘right’ things, for the ‘right’ reason, or the ‘right’ way”, setting up a society in which many people develop or think they have disabilities.
What I find the most interesting segment of this article is when the authors bring up biological disorders (alcoholism, autism, schizophrenia), learning “disabilities”, (ADD, illiteracy, etc), and others such as eating disorders, anxiety, and depression as all worthy of complex and critical analysis. This really struck me in relation to current and seemingly never-ending stigmas surrounding mental illness in our modern society. Having been diagnosed myself with anxiety and eating disorders in the past, I have always had the assumption that these categories placed me in an “abnormal” section of American society, that I was not able to “think correctly” in relation to the majority of my peers. It was frustrating that these conditions are often treated as nuisances or hindrances to academic and personal development by popular media or those in positions of authority. This article really challenged me to look at mental illness in a different light, with the “culture as disability” approach in mind.
Overall, I agree with McDermott
