Beyond
Stereotypes
NANDINI MURALI
Women
with disability live in a “cocoon of social making “.
They have to negotiate triple burdens and face ‘triple
discrimination’ (as women, people with disabilities,
and women with disabilities) living in as ableist society
that places a premium on wellness. An efficiency-driven,
achievement-centred modern society values health and
wellness. Any deviation from this idealized image is
perceived as an attestation of one’s helplessness, dependency,
and disempowerment. These have special implications
for women with disabilities.
Women,
Disability and Identify provides the reader a critical
analysis into the complex and wide-ranging discussions,
debates and issues and concerns regarding gender and
disability. The editors Asha Hans (Director, School
of Women’s Studies, and Professor of Political Science,
Utkal University, Bhubaneshwar) and Annie Patri (Spinal
Cord Injury Rehabilitation Coordination, Shantha Memorial
Rehabilitation Centre, (SMRC) Bhubaneshwar) impart their
mature perspectives in women’s studies and rehabilitation.
They enable to articulate the voices of women with disability
in a world “bound by parameters of masculinity and politics
of exclusion.” With 16 articles by scholars in women’s
studies, women with disabilities, and disability activists,
the book provides a comprehensive understanding of the
issues and concerns of women with disabilities – unheard
voices and invisible faces in both the disability and
feminist movements, especially in developing countries.
According
the editors, the book is the outcome of a felt need
expressed at a conference on women and disabilities
organized by SMRC in 1999. Participants remarked that
women with disabilities were ignored and disregarded
by the feminist movements and voices of disabled women
absent in developing countries. “Disabled women are
a nearly invisible element, not only in the general
disability movement but more so in the women’s movement…while
as women they face similar problems, as disabled women
they experience problems different from the non-disabled.
Therefore, their problems need to be addressed by both
the feminist and disability movements,” writers Asha
Hans in her lucid and in sightful introduction.
The
book is divided into four distinct sections-Images and
Values, Mirroring a Reality, Locating Women’s Agencies
in Differing Spheres and Systems, and Facilitating Strategies
and Entitlements. A unique feature is its balance of
academic and scholarly insights and the lived experiences
of women with disabilities whose experiences, voices
and concerns form the core of the book. The reviewer
would like to point out a typographical error in p.179
(We have found one another and found a voice to express
not despair at our fate…)
The
book provides an overview of issues such as genetic
technology (boon or bane for the disabled woman?), portrayal
of disabled women in Hollywood and Bollywood, societal
responses to women with disabilities in India and sexuality
of the disabled woman. Writer Michelle La Fontaine
argues that there is a need to balance women’s rights
and disability rights. “Women with disabilities must
be treated and respected like women without disabilities
and given the same choices as any woman considering
motherhood,” she writers.
Madeline
Cahill and Martin Norden in their incisive analysis
of Hollywood portrayal of disabled women conclude that
“such films are constructed with the needs of mainstream
audience in mind and not with the goal of accurate representation
or insightful exploration of the experiences of the
minority.”
In
a similar analysis of Bollywood films, Meenu Bhambani
traces the portrayal of disabled women and concludes
that parallel Hindi cinema is more sensitive and realistic
in its treatment of disabled women. Sandhya Limayae
in writing about disabled women and sexuality poignantly
pleads for the need to change mindsets that regard disabled
women as asexual and argues for the importance of sexual
literacy for the disabled woman. Writer Vandana Dignani
that personhood is denied to women with disabilities,
as she does not conform to the mainstream stereotypes
of a woman.
This
sensitive, insightful an readable book helps understand
the gendered world of disabled women. There are gender
dimensions to the physical, social and psychological
disadvantages caused by disabilities. Sexism faced
by disabled women in the disability movement and lack
of sensitivity of the feminist movement and mainstream
society further compound her problems.
Women,
Disability and Identity helps the reader to understand
the importance of moving beyond stereotypical and negative
attitudes towards women in general and disabled women
in particular. Only then can we claim to call ourselves
civilized in the true sense of the term.
Source: Success & Ability
Date:
April-June 2004
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