Deafness
In this week’s House (Season 5, Episode 22: “House Divided”), Foreman ascended one rung from hell:
He’s deaf. It’s not an identity, it’s a disability… Anything I can simulate with a three-dollar pair of earplugs is not a culture.
Overall, not a bad episode. I’m glad that House finally tackled this issue. It’s bad enough that people form cultures and identities surrounding the color of their skin (which is a pretty neutral characteristic), but over a disability? Now that’s insane.
It is admirable when someone afflicted with a disability is able to overcome it through great effort and strength of character. But to deny that it is a disability and to be proud of the condition itself (as against the achievement of overcoming it) is despicable.
It is a disability. Not being able to hear is not having a certain ability: it’s a disability. The reason that I don’t call my lack of telekinesis a disability is that the deficiency is judged by the standard of the metaphysically normal for the type of entity I am: human. But I would jump at the chance to have telekinesis, not insist that I’m part of a pelakinesis culture!
Should the lactose intolerant insist that they’re part of an andairy culture instead of getting treatment? What about the immunologically challenged? I wonder what the “cancer community” will say when a cure is finally an option for millions.
It’s bad enough that it’s commonplace within our culture to tell kids that “beauty is on the inside” and that media portrayals of beauty are wrong, essentially encouraging them to ignore their bodies for the supposed sake of their mental health. Children who can do something about their looks (and they almost always can) should be encouraged to pursue physical excellence, while reinforcing the idea their primary source of self-esteem should be their minds. Of course it’s wrong to make fun of fat girls, but the alternative is not to tell them that it’s okay to be fat. They should be encouraged to take steps to achieve a healthy body and to develop what they themselves think is beautiful (whatever the source of those ideas happens to be).
I look forward to the day when people judge themselves (and others) by rational standards.
Comments
Comment from Arthur
Time 2009-12-25 at 18:57:58
But doesn’t everybody, in one way or another, face obstacles in their lives? And shouldn’t everyone achieve a sense of pride when accomplishing something (whether that’s overcoming an obstacle or not)?
It’s true that some difficulties are greater than others, and some people achieve more than others. But I don’t see what any individual’s achievement has anything to do with another’s.
And I certainly don’t think that people should be grouping with one another based on characteristics outside their control. People should group together based on shared chosen values.
Comment from Adam Cohen
Time 2009-12-21 at 01:13:39
Can’t groups of people with a commonly identifiable trait (i.e. Blacks or people with disabilities) achieve a sense of pride, not in the trait itself, but in the struggles which they fight in trying to overcome adversities presented by the trait’s “deficiency” or divergence from the norm of society?