Disability, Impairment and sexual identity.

I was on facebook last night, and someone posted this poster above. I have been struggling to get my head around trans, and other LGBT issues until I seen this, and I remmbered something from my course, and all the connections came together, and I really want to share it here, because it now makes sense to me as a disability activist why we should be supporting the LGBT movement and visa versa.

Ok,  so for anyone who doesn't know what the social model of disability is, it is the idea that it is society that disables people and not the impact that their impairment has on them. The social model seperates out the 2, seeing impairment as the medicalised, scientific bit and the disability as socially created, without any link between them. Although there is some arguement about the validity of this amongst academics, the social model is still dominant in the UK, and for the majority it works.

So, there is the social model. Its basically a rejection of science and a stand against it, saying that a person is disabled (and can be enabled) by society, and impairment is irrelevant apart from in a stark medical context.

So, how does this link to LGBT, and trans, and the poster above. Well, as it says on the poster "gender identity is not sexual identity" in the same way that disability academics and disabled people separate and distinguish between disability and impairment, redefining disability out of the body the same is true of LGBT. The separation of the biological "birth" identity and the resultant gender identity is key to understanding this. Although society sees this in the same way as disability and impairment is seen, as no different, there is in fact  a big difference between a persons sexual identity and their gender. 

Gender is a societal concept based and inherently linked to a persons sex. For example gendered clothes, and gendered toilets seek to separate, define and expect people to have the same identity for both. However, as the above poster states, trans people have separated the two identities and reclaimed their gendered idenity from society transforming it into their own concept. You can see this at work in disabiltiy activism, where disabled people reclaim the definition of disability and impairment and recreate it through the social model into a liberating concept. 

I have put a graphic below to help understand what I am saying visually. However, if you want to know more, this paper, which i hope is available elsewhere for free is a really good introduction to it, in a more academic style... http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0968759042000284231

For both disabled people and those who define as LGBT the struggle against societies idea of normal in whatever context whether that is hetronormativity or normativity is very similar. We should celebrate this, and  recognise it more within cross liberation. There are differences between the two, but similarities can only bring unity.

Im resigning from the NUS.

 I am leaving the NUS national disabled students committee. I don't want to go quietly and I want to highlight how inaccessible and disabling my experiences have been with attempting to engage with the campaign. This hasn't been a one off, I am the second person to leave the national disabled students campaign committee because of accessibility issues. When such a big organization as the NUS can not get such basic things right for themselves I get worried for our disabled students who they represent. As always, disabled students are at the heart of everything I do and I will continue to fight for equality for all disabled students. We are entitled to an education. Here is my resigination letter. And to keep it positive, here is my video explaining my role as my unions local disabled students representative. Part time with a full time mission :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-u7NjhB4MI&feature=youtu.be make some noise, I dont want to go quietly.

I remember the national disabled students conference with a great deal of delight. It was the first time I felt properly disabled and properly enabled at the same time. It was a liberating experience, and my recent election to my local unions disabled student rep position made me consider being a part of the national committee.

I remember the speeches from the current committee. If you had the passion and drive to do it, then the small matter of being disabled wasn’t an issue, it was something to be overcome, not a barrier to participation. So I signed up, eager to instigate change and make a difference.

Then there was the fiasco with training being inaccessible which resulted in me not being able to attend and Robyn resigning. I hoped it was a one off and carried on.

When it came to the first meeting I found there were similar access issues that I had to battle with in order for me to get there. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear to just be a one off, but seemed inherent within the organisation.

When I attended my first training meeting I didn’t feel enabled, empowered and activated. I felt overwhelmed, disabled and pretty negative. I didn’t know if this was beyond me, and then the feelings associated with failing came about which just made it worse. I wasn’t sure if it was me or it was genuinely beyond my limitations. I spent Friday and Saturday completely exhausted and unable to function.

What I guess I am saying is that although it might seem ironic, my experience of the national disabled students committee is that it is a very disablist position. In order to meet the demands of the job, students have to have the ability to manage their impairment themselves, and be confident of themselves in their environment. I am not sure what reasonable adjustments and access needs I have, and as these change with every day, and different events it is difficult to pin down exactly what it is that is a barrier that needs to be overcome. I would need to sit and plan every detail in great length to know this, and with only being given 2 weeks’ notice of a meeting this is impossible.

I have spent the weekend not sure what to do, my future with the committee in question. I didn’t feel supported by the organisation to be enabled to attend, and I didn’t find the meeting itself particularly accessible, for me, a physical meeting is not particularly accessible for me in the first place and with no prior notice of the events I could not have forseen what barriers would crop up. For example I can’t read out loud, and I need advance copies of any reading materials as my reading speed is slow, and I like to be prepared. It might seem natural to mention these things, but for me I have so many access needs it would be impossible to write them all down just in case one might be relevant.

And then, this morning, I received a letter from the government. I have been placed in the support group of ESA for a year. It has kind of hit me really hard after the initial excitement of getting the benefit that I am really not well. I leave university in a years time, and I really want to spend this year concentrating on this brave new experience of not being at university, and out in the real world. I need to focus on me, the things I wrote about in the ESA50 form were real, and big things that I need to address in my life. I need to focus on becoming better, doing my degree and work out what I am going to do next. Its only recently that life has become harder for me as I have developed a new impairment that I need to focus on working out whats going on there etc.

I hope you understand that I don’t want to have to do this. However, when I am struggling as an impaired person it is difficult to have a disabled persons identity going alongside. I want to do the best job I can on a local level as my universities disabled students rep. I feel I can make a real difference there, and I think I have worked out that it is where my passions lie. When I am feeling so disabled by my impairment I need to be in enabling environments that reduce my disability so I am only facing barriers caused by my impairment (its a bit complicated I know but I am a complicated person and one who’s studied disability in great detail)

It is with regret that I feel forced to resign from the national disabled students committee, I hope you understand my reasons for this.

Thanks

lucia

Feeling supported...

I got a lovely letter from the DWP this morning. Personalised and everything. No really, they'd put a tick in the support group box and left the WRAG box empty and everything.

But seriously. I went through hell to write in detail about my impairments, and the effect it has on my day to day life, ironically the process itself causing me more problems. I followed guidance, sought help from anyone and everyone who would give it. I answered the form to the descriptors and not the questions.

I wasn't called for a medical with ATOS, despite their targets for getting as many people as possible through their doors. My form was read and considered, and my request to be put in the support group was upheld.

See, there are humans in that place after all.