Within society individuals are constantly searching for, and\ncreating labels: labeling others in order to place them in arbitrary stereotyped\ngroups, labeling themselves to gain a sense of belonging or community, labeling\nbehaviors, thoughts, actions. People are so desperate to either align with, or\nalienate themselves from others that differentiation categories, such as race,\nwere created purely on the basis of the appearance of skin color. L.J. Davis\u2019s\nintroduction section controversially explores the idea that disability should not\nbe one of these identifiers, and instead society should \u201cexpand the protected\nclass (referencing the disabled) to the entire population.\u201d (30) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Davis begins as many disability theorists do, by explaining the\nhistory of disability studies, and citing it as a \u201crelatively new field\u201d which\nhas made critiquing, and especially attempting to dismantle one of the main ideas\nof the organization, extremely taboo. (11) Davis then focuses in on the idea of\neugenics, and how it unites the studies of race, gender, sexuality, and disability.\nThis fascinating concept of whether or not creating a \u2018perfect society\u2019 would include\nthose who are seen as \u2018the other\u2019 is discussed alongside the question of genes,\nand their inability of consistently or accurately determining the outcome of an\nindividual. This supports Davis\u2019s proposal that these distinguishing features\nare not substantial at all, as there is little scientific fact to support these\nassumptions. \u201cIf all identities are socially constructed or performative, is\nthere a core identity there? Is there a there?\u201d (13)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another biological aspect relating disability and identity discussed\nin this piece is genetic testing, and whether or not disabled individuals have \u201cthe\nright not to be born.\u201d (22) While this topic may not be quintessential to Davis\u2019s\noverall argument, it is a concept that stuck out greatly, and was such an\noriginal, unheard of idea, that it had to be further explored. Typically, when\ngenetic testing is referenced in a disability theory piece, it is to highlight\nthe underlying harm of attempting to not have a child with a disability. While\nDavis does do this, namely referencing the disparities that would be seen\nrelating to the wealth of different countries and social classes, he then presents\nthis new concept. Is this something that will become more commonplace as\ndisability studies becomes more accessible and popular? If children have the\nright to be born, can they also have the right to not be? This is something that\ncould have been further explored, as it would support Davis\u2019s idea that\ndisability is not black and white, and should not be seen as a concept to\ndifferentiate people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout the various theory pieces analyzed in this class,\ndifferent authors have presented dissimilar models of disability that they\nbelieve are quintessential. Models such as the medical, social, and racial have\nall been presented, explored, and thoroughly dissected. Specific to this piece,\nDavis explores the humanistic model, which is \u201ca new way of thinking [that]\nrests on\u2026\u201d dismodernism. (30) This humanistic model centers around the physical\nhuman body, and postulates that there is no \u2018normal\u2019 in society, and disability\nshould not be a dividing factor amongst individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Groupings such as gender, sexual orientation, and sexuality were once thought to have concrete boundaries, but these ideas are now seen as being on more of a spectrum. Davis proposes that disability is a grouping that should also be rethought, but unlike those previously mentioned, disability should no longer be a form of identity at all, because as Davis states, \u201cWe are all nonstandard.\u201d (32)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Word Count: 581<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-Caitlyn Valenza<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Within society individuals are constantly searching for, and creating labels: labeling others in order to place them in arbitrary stereotyped groups, labeling themselves to gain a sense of belonging or community, labeling behaviors, thoughts, actions. People are so desperate to either align with, or alienate themselves from others that differentiation categories, such as race, were … Continue reading “Caitlyn with a C’s Response to L.J. Davis\u2019s \u201cThe End of Identity Politics and the Beginning of Dismodernism\u201d”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[33,34],"class_list":["post-1232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-section-02","tag-short-reading-response-paper"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papJgd-jS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1233,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions\/1233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}