Why We Fear 'the Disabled'

Yes, I know ‘the disabled’ is a loaded term. That’s why I used it.

Last week, I read Disability (Key Concepts) by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer, a very quick and very good survey of current disability theory. Reading this book, along with Paul K. Longmore’s Why I Burned My Book And Other Essays on Disability, is just the start of my exploration into the field to disability studies. Still, in a chapter entitled “Culture, Media and Representation”, Barnes and Mercer provide one of the best explanations for why illness and disability is so stigmatized that I’ve ever heard.

Quoting feminist Jenny Morris, Barnes and Mercer write:

Most typically, then, Western cultures identify and mark out certain people as ‘different’ or ‘Other’ – particularly those perceived as having flawed or ugly bodies.

Our disability frightens people. They don’t want to think that is something which could happen to them. So we become separated from our common humanity, treated as fundamentally different and alien. Having put up clear barriers between us and them, non- disabled people further they hide their fear and discomfort by turning us into objects of pity, comforting themselves by their own kindness and generosity. (Morris 1991: 192)

Kind of says it all, doesn’t it?

Works Cited
Barnes, C. and Mercer, G. 2003: Disability. Cambridge: Polity Press. 92
Morris, J. 1991: Pride Against Prejudice: Transforming Attitudes to Disability. London: Women’s Press.

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