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Disability Paradox

Being disabled is an experience that moulds thinking and lifestyle over time. It might start with the
beginning of consciousness, or it settles on somewhere later in the period of conscious existence. It
is therefore a very varied experience each individual undergoes in a unique way. In the beginning it
is experienced in a functional way and solution to those functional limitation faced by individual in
the discharge of personal or social activities is sought by individual and society, thinking that easing
the functional problems would make the disability disappear. Disability is therefore considered a
momentary glitch that can be removed with the provision of assistance and accessible environment.
The person undergoing disability is given access to social services with an emphasis on the eventual
withdrawal of the assistance as the disability is hoped to end like flue after some defined time. So,
the mechanical view simplifies the issue of disability by viewing human beings as machines, some
become functional with assistance, but others who do not become functional pose a challenge to
this approach. The functional approach provides here a theory of social rights of the individual for
the provision of support that would make the dysfunctional individual continue performing in the
society. Those machines that cannot be fixed remain dependant on social resources. The social
models normally provides a niche for such people in order to promote altruism in the functional
individuals (and also a hope to have such support in case they too become dysfunctional). However,
there is limit to such assistance and such support is always selective and exclusive. The welfare
aspect in the functional approach to disability contradicts the market based economy in capitalism
(this does not entail that I am endorsing communism). The western social structure does not allow
the possibility of a few people contributing to the welfare of a large number of dysfunctional
individuals. Thus a competitive model kicks in where resource allocation within society is regulated
on the basis of the output. The social services are therefore prioritised on the bases of the
contribution of the class to which the individual belongs. As this appears an obnoxious idea to
ghettoize an individual belonging to a social class therefore, this model works in the guise of social
norms and social pragmatism. Limited resources are usually allocated to the dysfunctional groups
like disabled and the old (and women in the eastern societies where entrepreneurship is not
allowed). And the competition within the group is allowed so those who are more productive and
capable bag more social benefits while those who do not excel in intra-group competition usually
remain on the fringes of social benefits. The idea of women to suffer double disadvantage arise from
this competitive approach among groups and then within groups among the individuals.
The life defining moment comes when someone is classified or assigned by society to the class of
disabled. Afterwards, the aforementioned models start to pulverise the normal life of individual and
recast it roughly into what is socially conceived as the defining characteristics of a typical member of
the group. The identity of a disabled person is socially constructed unilaterally. This is the identity of
a member of a group that is dysfunctional making them socially less powerful and demonised
persons. Social justification for the neglect, discrimination and marginalization are provided in the
form of a narrative of associating disability to some entrenched and permanent moral weaknesses of
the individual with disability. For the individual the life becomes a battle of dispelling these
prejudices among the individuals they come into contact. These individual as a norm remain absent
from the defining social narrative as the authors. In most instances the individual succumbs to such
pressures and makes peace with the imposed identity (that is considered by other individuals as the
natural course). Thus disability in social discourse does not simply remains at functional level but
transpires into a stigma that defines the individual assigned to the class of disabled. Those who fight
back are acknowledged socially with some respect if those individuals make some social gains
despite these odds, as those who successfully break barriers (that are ironically imposed on them by
society). The gain of competition are not grand for the class as a whole because the individuals with
disability who succeed in social gains are temporarily included in the mainstream group. The social
perception that is based on productivity still remains myopic. The problem lies in the social construct
of the disabled as a class that makes the individuals in such class as forgotten people with little rights
of ownership, association and expression.
Family as the primary unit of society is largely affected by the social perception related to class of
the disabled. The individual is understood as an abnormal person with social disadvantage. The
resource allocation therefore neglects such individual under various socially constructed pretexts.
The socializing opportunities remain few (as many people do not wish to engage socially with such
individuals). Isolation is something that every disabled individual personally experiences. The
personality of an individual with disability slowly absorbs the social isolation and discrimination. In
entering friendship the peers neglect of the disabled make them feel outcast. In such situation it is
always expected that a person with disability remains happy in the company of other disabled. The
social narrative therefore tacitly disapproves personal contact between a disabled and non-disabled
person. Most of the people who experience disability remain under social stress where the identity
though deeply entrenched is negotiated with social actors eager to minimize the rights and
maximize passively performed responsibilities, while the disabled individual fights on multiple fronts
of right, control of responsibilities, breaking socially constructed identity and finding human
association based on personal preferences (these are just few, the list also includes overcoming
functional impediments, realization of the self through creativity and doing everything that a human
being can imagine, create and does) all at the same time.
The paradox of disability is the imposition of a false identity on an individual and then discriminating
against that person using this construct as a pretext of bias. In this paradox the disabled person is
unilaterally approached with discrimination and then shunned with more bias if the person fails to
dispel the bias with a mythical grandiosity.

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