“disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by a contemporary social organization which takes no or little account for people who have physical and or cognitive intellectual impairments and thus excludes them from mainstream society.” (Eli Pp.6) This really hit home for me as I recently have been once again comparing my own “cognitive disability” to a system not made for cognitive diversity. One that questioned why I should be given different tools in school than others. Teachers assumed I didn’t prepare or study. I am not unable or helpless, you are just trying to force a system not made for my learning on to me. I can answer the question you are asking, but I can also do so much more than answer the question once I understand it. I can apply and remember things in ways that confuse me. I can see pictures and worlds within my mind, but your previous system finds me incapable because I can’t do it in the constrictions you believe to be a judgment of intellect and ability.
This piece really enabled me to connect to how others might think or feel when it comes to subjugation. I think about in Loving In The War Years, Moraga purposefully and unapologetically writes in a way that is just wholly herself. She did not write in a way that is a “normal AP standard”. This was her breaking from the system. It made me think about what my writing or art or studies could look like if I explored them outside of the ideals of what people expect from me. Moraga’s usage of mixed language and a journal-like set up led me to thinking about what my personal, physical writing would look like outside of the standard writing expectation. What would writing or poetry look like if it was made just for me? I would play with punctuation like an artist, spacing would seem random and unusual, my thoughts would be like a cloud connected by parenthesis because all of the ideas are connected and tied in my mind, and it would be a mess, but not to me. I never thought about what my own writing would look like in my “language”. I’m not trying to insinuate that I am in any way better than anyone else. I’m trying to explain that everyone can do something someone else can’t in a way that works for them, so why are we all trying to do things in a way that work best for one group of people.
Disability theorist Michael Oliver defines impairment as “lacking part of or all of a limb, or having a defect limb, organism or mechanism of the body”(Eli pp.6) I am not lacking there is nothing wrong with being the way I am and normal is propaganda. 8 billion people and not one of them is exactly the same as the other so how did we all come to believe that one specific way was the right one or one specific way to do something was the right way to do it. Even in science just because one experiment is more successful than another you continue to study other methods because there are endless changes in technology and techniques. How could we forget how complex and unique our world truly is?
This is beautifully written. I often think about this too because my ‘voice’ tends to bleed through everything, whether it is a creative or academic piece. I love how we all have our own ways to express ourselves and you have started looking inward and thinking about your voice. That is why art is so amazing! It can do this and so much more.
Coming back to your “normal is propanganda” idea, I totally agree. Even though our society is has created boxes, I dare to say most of us don’t even fit in them anymore. Your’e right; how dare we try to put people in boxes when they are not relevant anymore? They will only become relevant when everyone is the same and that is never going to happen, no matter what some people want to push.
This was a really interesting read. I ALWAYS struggle with either being way too formal or not being formal at all, regardless of assignment. And when I struggle to turn things in, it’s not because I’m being lazy, I’m agonizing about it, I’m confronting and wrestling with the responsibility of getting work done that I don’t enjoy or see value in, and the things that come from that: Grades, not feeling behind in class, etc.
We’re all different. While I see value in higher education, and I see value in high standards and schedules and in small ways, homework, I have always gone head to head with the education “system” and my place in it. These thoughts sometimes surface every assignment I’m tasked to complete, and other times I can have a good run of a couple months where I turn work in on time.