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Originally posted by
Ramses
I really don't think that using mental disorders as the reason why ableism is okay is the most viable thing to do, Peeta.
I most certainly did not say ableism is okay. I disagree with the overly reactionary definition commonly used.
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And I absolutely disagree that the disabled can't be given the association that a race would be for these examples; if you are born deaf, you are going to be a member of the deaf community... or you're going to be miserable. And the deaf community has outlets, games, entire school systems, built around them. If you are going to genuinely tell me that deaf people have no culture because it's an issue of some manner of impairment instead of because of the fact they, I don't know, ethnically all come from Insert Location Here, I think that's complete malarkey. Their community is strong, their community has a rich history, and within their community they're absolutely normal people.
No, if you are born Deaf you may get a cochlear implant and never experience any disability, you may use hearing aids and be mainstreamed, you may be isolated, you may take part in multiple communities, or you may be part of the Deaf community alone. If you're born black, you are black. You have a cultural and genetic link to other blacks. A Deaf person only has an artifically created community, which has been made based on a shared hardship. There can be great beauty in that and there is history to it, but it's not the same thing as a racial identity. Blackness doesn't go away with a surgery. White couples don't spontaneously produce black babies. Blackness doesn't require special programs at school. Equating race and disability is an insult to both, because it ignores the unique characteristics of both.
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Sure, biologically there is. The baseline human body should be able to hear. It's hard to argue the scientific clarity that, yes, there is something abnormal here, and it would probably be beneficial to them to be normal. So what? That ship has sailed for the people we're talking about, mostly. They can't go back to normal, and they're here, are we supposed to shun them and humiliate them through verbage and pointed declaration that seems to continuously assert that they're DEAF PEOPLE and not PEOPLE? Because that is what this sort of language goes towards; shaming people who don't deserve it. Making it clear they're different.
That's hardly what I said. The endless euphemism train that attempts to change language does very little to help, as it does nothing to change the underlying opinions and then it leaves well-meaning people uncomfortable and unsure about what they can say. Retarded becomes special becomes intellectually disabled becomes...? Because the underlying stigma remains, nothing has changed except for word games. No one should call someone a retard, or a gimp, or insult them unless they don't care about the words, but sitting around fussing about the words when the dehumanization behind them is the actual problem is a waste of energy.
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But as Zuul said above; because of the richness of some communities, yes, betrayal is seen because it's comparable to eugenics, or in my earlier example to selling out... you're saying they're not good enough for you. But honestly, if you decide it's worth it, who are they to hypocritically now tell you what you can and can't do with your body, or what way you get to interact with society? Their outrage at their members 'turning their backs' and getting surgical repair is strange, maybe, if you don't understand that in a society which oppresses its minorities - and the disabled are a minority being oppressed by this sort of thing - their unity strengthens them. To have it challenged challenges their community.
I'm a mixed race, gay, mentally ill guy from a small Southern town. I can tell you quite honestly that they will all react to things differently depending on which group you're speaking of, their ages, where they are, their backgrounds, ad nauseum. You cannot sum them all up with "minorites do X."