Throughout my life I have not had much experience at all, or
exposure to many disabled people. I knew a few individuals who have physical disabilities,
but had no close friends or family members who were disabled. The readings for
today gave insight into how some individuals cope with their issues. In the
society in which we live in today, attaining a perfect body is something that
is obsessed over. Media and advertising shows examples of what everyone should
be like, and it in turn alienates many groups of the population. While it’s not
right to discriminate against people because of their disabilities it is still
apparent in our society. An example of this is from the article in which the
first wheelchair model at New York Fashion week. It might not seem that on the
surface the fashion world is discriminating against the disabled, but the mere
exclusion from making clothing that fits these people and the lack of any
models that represent these individuals is alienating them in many ways. That
is why it is important for our society to encourage more of the models like the
one in the article, to represent more groups of people from our society. The
buff and beautiful are not the only ones out there.
This
leads to the reading by Seymour on “Disability and Bodily Expression.” The way
in which the disabled people in this reading dress allows for them to attain a
sense of confidence about themselves. Our society caters to able bodied individuals
in many ways, including clothing and fashion; though many things are taken away
from people like Frances and George in the reading their clothes give them
something back. That is why it is a big deal that our society is starting to
open up about having disabled or even plus size models. It is a step in the
right direction for not only the disabled, but many different groups in our
society.
Lastly
moving from the fashion and clothing aspect to masculinity of disabled men, the
reading by Gershcick provides three frameworks individuals tend to use to cope
with their situations. These include reformulation, reliance, and rejection. While
reading this about disability and masculinity and how certain individuals
choose to cope with both it reminded me of a documentary I recently watched. It
is called “Burn” and is about the Detroit Fire Department. (It can be found on
Netflix if anyone would like to view it.) A large portion of this film focused
on the job of being a fire fighter. It showed the physicality and bravery the
fire fighters needed to do their jobs on a day to day basis. Overall I would
say it just emphasized the masculinity of the men, it’s a man’s job and it takes
a lot to handle the different situations etc. It also then focuses a lot on a
fireman who recently was injured during a fire when a brick wall fell on him,
paralyzing him from the waist down. This extremely masculine man with a tough job
now has troubles functioning on a day to day basis. His issue is not
necessarily being paralyzed, but he says relying on others to help him
throughout his day. It puts a lot on his wife and others around him and he has
an issue with that. Reliance is obviously the way in which he coped with his
injury. He is a man coming from an extremely masculine background and needs,
wants to show everyone that he still is that masculine man. He needs to do
things on his own and wants the people around him to see that.
Our society
has a tendency to alienate those who they seem different in one way or another.
It is important to not have this mindset but to increasingly encourage things
like disabled models or improvements in the fashion industry for the disabled.
It also is important to understand better how different people cope with their situation
so that they too can be treated better within our sometimes difficult to live
in society.
I definitely agree with your point. I don't think many people realize that being healthy and having a able body is considered a privilege. That being said, we hardly ever think about the issues that people with disabilities face when it comes to our bodies and the clothing that are made for them. I surfed the web and searched for clothing for people with disability and I noticed that if any clothing lines/stores exist they are owned by people with disabilities. This catches my attention because like you said, our society definitely alienates this particular group of people in our society.
ReplyDeleteLike Cesar, I also agree with you. At the beginning of your post you talked about how you did not have much experience with people that have disabilities, which I think is how the majority of society is. I was lucky enough to be able to work with people with disabilities in highschool but I think that a lot of people in the world aren't aware of how they impact people with disabilities. Because of this lack of knowledge, fashion industries and clothing companies are continuing to make clothes that fit what they view as a "normal" body. Not only should our society stop alienating disabled people for having a different body shape, (even if they don't know they are doing it) but we should encourage people to learn about their disabilities so they can relate more to them and cater to their needs aswell.
ReplyDeleteSince the majority of society does not have much experience with individuals with physical disabilities, we see these individuals out in public and do not realize the amount of time and effort it takes for these people to simply get ready for their day. Having been around some disabled people, I have always realized that they have a network of people who help them with tasks. However, I never really thought about the association of masculinity with regards to begin dependent on other people, but after reading "Coming to Terms" it really made me think. Society needs to continue to strive to increase disabled individuals networks of help rather than shoving it under the table. I think focusing on simple things, such as providing clothing lines, more volunteers, and programs that get disabled people outside and active is something that could really spark happiness in these individuals' lives.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read these pieces for today, I started thinking of other ways that we alienate people with physical disabilities, besides just with fashion. One example that I thought of was seating at sports games. Take the Big House for example, the "handicapped" section is at the very top and back of the stadium, the worst seats you can get in the Big House, but yet they pride themselves on "being accommodating for people with disabilities". When really they are discriminating against and depriving people of access to good seating because of their physical handicap. Usually we don't even realize things like this are happening until a relative or a friend has to use a wheelchair and we have to sit with them at the very back of the sporting event, then we don't like it because we are subject to this bad treatment as well. Our society needs to rethink it's attitude on these individuals, they are just as important as everyone else and should have the same access to the things "able-bodied" people get to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with several of your points like Cesar and Brooke. I do also believe that people in our society choose to remain ignorant. Early in your posts you talked about how you don't have any personal experience with individuals with disabilities,but like most of society, its because I believe we fail to appropriately care. We as able bodies take advantage of simple things like putting on a shirt or cloths. I was curious to find out if there were any modeling agencies that specifically looked for disabled models. There are several agencies that look for these models but not many that actually take them. I found an article on BBC that talked about the issues that models with disabilities faced. A young women described her story of how she was loosing feeling in her limbs because of a disease that made her paralyzed. Although she said places claimed they were looking for models with disabilities," disability was more disturbing than different" and they often were not hired.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7481784.stm
ReplyDeleteThese pieces also made me think about how as a society we alienate people in particular groups not just with disabilities, but also like with being gay and so on. I definitely agree that being healthy and not having any disability issues is a privilege. People in our society don't realize how lucky they are to be able to do things for themselves without having someone else to have to get them dressed or feed them etc. I also haven't experienced many interactions with disabled individuals. I think that it is important that we include those that are disabled and don’t just fit them into their own category, they are human just like a normal individual without disabilities. I think that it is really important that everyone is educated about the different kinds of disabilities starting from youth so when growing up they realize how lucky they are to be healthy and be able to help those who are disabled and not alienate them from the rest of the “normal world”.
ReplyDeleteI think you summarized very well the conflict described in the readings between what a man "should" act/look like, and the reality that not all men fit this bill- especially those with disabilities. Alienating people with disabilities is yet another way in which society creates privilege. As if it weren't enough to marginalize certain groups passed on gender or race or religion, society creates a system of privilege in which the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker. It's very survival of the fittest, but not very humanitarian. I think it was excellent how you brought up "Burn." The central concepts of that documentary, as you describe them, certainly align with the materials for today. I'm definitely going to check it out! I think the biggest problem I personally face with treating people with disabilities the same as anyone else, is that I always want to help, I go out of my way to do so. I wouldn't dote on a "healthy" person, and physically disabled people recognize this. I had a friend in high school whose mom suffers from MS. I would always dart to help her out of her chair or open a door for her, until one day she sat me down and explained that she didn't need or want this kind of treatment. She recognized that I was trying to help, but explained that it stripped a sense of independence from her that she had so prided herself in having in raising her family, prior to her diagnosis. I had never thought about it that way, but it certainly made sense. People with disabilities need not one more reminder that they are "different," which involves us setting aside our best intentions at times and treating them with the respect that they deserve.
ReplyDeleteI also watched the "Burn" documentary on Netflix and it was very hard to watch the paralyzed firefighter feel as if he was a burden to his family simply because he does not fit the hegemonic masculine role society sets out for men anymore. I agree that most people in society are very hesitant or even scared when they see disabled people in wheelchairs. There is a young boy that suffers from cerebral palsy that is a big fan of wrestling. This boy's brother is carrying him on his back on a 40 mile walk from their hometown to our wrestling facility here in Ann Arbor. Our wrestling team with be greeting them when they arrive. I am excited to be a part of this event because I think it is very important to raise awareness for the disabled and make them feel comfortable in a society that alienates their bodies.
ReplyDeleteAlot of people don't have much experience with disable people so they don't understand the hardships they go through. My grandpa became disable and lost the ability to walk. Though as a family we still treated him the same way. We allowed him to do a lot of things on his own as if he wasn't disabled and he asked for help when needed. In my opinion the reason why disabled people don't receive any kind of attention is because can sometimes be looked at as less of a human. People want to help them out all the time and baby them as if they cant do things on their own. Then people who have little to no experience with disabled people pay them no attention and never notice them. By adding a disabled model to the fashion world would really show support of them and their disability. Like you said "The buff and beautiful ones are not the only ones out their."
ReplyDeleteI think Cesar's point of being healthy and having an able body as a privilege is a great point and something I had never considered or thought of as a privilege. Before reading this piece on the two men who had disabled bodies, I had never considered how masculinity transforms its identity for those who are in wheelchairs and are unable to go about doing daily activities that one would deem a masculine trait (not asking for help, for example). While we have talked about masculinity and problems with it, this piece explicitly highlights problems within the gender expectations that even a "normal" person taking this class could understand the problems that society places upon both genders.
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