Struggles online over the
meaning of 'disability'
A 'dialogic' interpretation
nicholascimini@gmail.com
Disability Studies Conference – Lancaster
University
3rd September 2008
Paper outline
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Dialogue online & the 'punk ethic'
The Bakhtin Circle
Representations of Down's syndrome
Summary
The 'punk ethic' online
These websites reflect & refract a 'multiplicity of consciousnesses' and in the process – they subvert tradition forms of knowledge construction
The Bakhtin Circle
'Countless ideological threads running through
all areas of social intercourse register effect in
the word. It stands to reason then, that the
word is the most sensitive index of social
changes ... The word has the capacity to
register all the transitory, delicate, momentary
phases of social change'. Voloshinov (1973,
p.19, italics added)
'Utterances and their types, that is, speech genres, are
the drive belts from the history of society to the history of
language’ Bakhtin (1981, p.65)
Definitional issues on Wikipedia
'Down syndrome (or Down's syndrome in British English) is
a chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of all or
part of an extra 21st chromosome'
(Current revision - as of 10.38, 12th August 2008)
'Down syndrome [sic] is a naturally occurring chromosomal
arrangement'
(18:09, 10th January 2006)
'Down syndrome is a genetic condition resulting from the
presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome'
(06:14, 2nd December 2006)
Subverting 'clinical' expertise
Children with Down
Many of the common
syndrome [sic] are at
physical features of
an immediate
Down syndrome also
disadvantage
appear in people with
compared with
a standard set of
children who do not
chromosomes
have Down syndrome.
– Revision initiated on
22:25, 1st September
2005 (italics added),
wording still used
Images & captions
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I wish my Daddy drilled me
this hard (16:17, 18th July
2006)
Retard drilling holes
(Revision as of 17:55, 11st
November 2006)
A rare case of caucasion
down syndrome (2:50, 8th
February 2008)
I'm not saying the picture
on the article is wrong, I
just think maybe it should
be more front-on, as it
were, showing the facial
differences of a Down's
person (User Selphie 10th
Dec 2004)
Dialogue, resistance & change
I think the photo is great and very much adds to the article. It shows the
distinct facial features and the short stubby fingers, but in a dynamic shot
(also illustrating the capacity to develop interests and skills) rather than a
"here is a pathology specimen" shot. Which is as it should be, since people
with DS are people, not pathology specimens. In other words the photo shows
the stigmata without stigmatizing.
Anon (12th May 2008) italics added
Glad my sons photograph (prominent top right) has survived many attacks
over the years by both vandals and the snooty brigade - my sons picture
wielding an electric screwdriver says a thousand positive things that the
article doesn't about having Down's syndrome - and it has now been there so
long that nobody dares to delete it, its sacrosanct.
Excalibur (e-interview 2007)
Summary
• Struggles over the meaning of disability can be considered a virtual
echo or 'index' of struggles being fought in the real world.
• We cannot 'click to victory' in these struggles.
• Revised and supplemented, Bakhtin's notion of dialogism provides
powerful tools - focusing our attention on a 'multiplicity of
consciousnesses', the processes of interaction between social
voices, and the often exclusionary methods by which one voice
gains closure over others – as well as, crucially,the two-way
processes of dialogue and resistance to closure.
• Out of the many competing perspectives on Down's syndrome,
there is the potential for meaningful agreement.