Blog 1 – Disability

by Denise Aitken

Disability activist Thompson (cited in Blahovec, 2016) reports she aims to raise awareness of ‘what it means to be of colour and disabled, and some of the disparities surrounding that’, highlighting an intersectional focus on disabled POC in relation to inequalities and lack of representation in media and real-world participation which, ‘really affects one’s self esteem and one’s ability to connect with all of their identities’. This prompted me to regard the data on the intersection of POC and disability on UAL’s ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Annual report 2021/22’. I could see that 33% were non-white and 8% declared disability and I wondered what % of POC had disabilities, but I didn’t see that information tied up. 

Thompson (cited in Blahovec, 2016) remarks upon lack of representation of her intersection of identities, and the importance of people having opportunities to make positive connections to the multitude of identities that they develop over their lives – ‘all of their identities’.  

I can facilitate such connections in my work with students with inclusive practices that connect curriculum to students’ lives in meaningful ways, making connections between theory and practice, emphasising the relevance of said theories specifically in terms of the student’s unique practice and particular world reality – bringing theory to life within their personal living contexts – encouraging them to ask ‘what does this curriculum actually mean to me?’ 

An exercise that I use to draw out the varied identities students possess, is a simple time management plan where I sit with the individual and we schedule out their week. We colour code their different activities over their day and I emphasise recording as many daily activities that they are happy to share with me, such as attending church/mosque/temple, fitness/sports, hobbies, shopping, eating, sleeping, days/afternoons out, laundry and caring for their children/pets or parents – whatever relevance they identify.  

The purpose is to highlight what limited time they have to complete study tasks and stimulate some motivation (hopefully not anxiety!), but in terms of the intersectionality dialogue, the timetabling exercise is more than this. The discussion over their daily lives is to value and promote the different things they do, deepening self-worth and awareness of their positionality. I want to build a wider picture of the students’ perspectives of their many environments, for myself and for them. I wonder how they see their world. 

Christine Sun Kim’s (2011, image above) film depicts some of her perceptions of her world reality, with her impressive exploration of sound in her Deaf world that highlights her powerful sensorial experiences expressed in her performance art, showcasing her corporeal engagement with physical sound. She states, ‘sounds are visceral and internal in contrast to Sign Language, which because of its kinetic nature is more external and spatial’. She advises, ‘let’s listen with our eyes and not just our ears’, and after watching the developing aesthetics from her contraptions shaking paints across surfaces, I began to acknowledge and value another way to regard sound. Sterne (2003) writes about the rich complexities of sound, that I’d never considered which are, 

inextricably entangled with a variety of ‘extra-sonic’ processes, relations and norms– from environmental and physical factors such as movement, humidity, and atmospheric pressure, to ‘social’ practices, epistemologies and institutions such as Capitalism, militarism, medical understandings of the human body, architecture and urban planning…  

Kim’s (2011) film is a reminder to me of the richness of multi-sensory learning, that assists students to access/consider new information/knowledge through all their senses. It is also asks the viewer to regard deeper contexts of how we construct our senses.

David Bowie asks, have you every thought about sound and vision?

Sun Kim (2011), Sterne (2003) and Barokka’s (2017) article make me think how ‘disability’ and ‘pain’ can be a social construct. Barokka (2017) writes, ‘women’s pain […] is underestimated and undertreated’ (p.390). This made me think of hidden/invisible pain and hidden/invisible disability, that I cannot know what the students I support are feeling or facing at any given time, and to keep positive support going that appreciates any and all progress in their studies and ways of knowing of the world. Hevna (2016) writes at length about the capitalistic perspectives on sickness and pain, how anti-capitalistic people are who dare to be ill or disabled (see for further discussion ‘Sick Woman Theory’). 

References 

Barokka, K. (2017) Deaf-accessibility for spoonies: 
Lessons from touring EveandMaryAreHavingCoffee while chronically ill, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 22:3, 387-392, DOI: 10.1080/13569783.2017.1324778 

Blahovec, S. (2016) Confronting the Whitewashing Of Disability: Interview with #DisabilityTooWhite Creator Vilissa Thompson. Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/confronting-the-whitewash_b_10574994?guccounter=1 [Accessed 05/02/23] 

Bowie, D. (1977) ‘Sound and Vision’, Low. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzf0JxUW2HM

Christine Sun Kim (2012) A Selby Film. Available at: https://vimeo.com/31083172 [Accessed: 1 March 2022] 

Hevna, J. (2016) Sick Woman Theory – “how do you throw a brick through the window of a bank if you can’t get out of bed?” Available at: https://sickwomantheory.tumblr.com/post/138519901031/transcript-of-my-body-is-a-prison-of-pain-so-i [Accessed 30/04/23]

Sterne, J. (2003). The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction. Duke University. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11hpj6z. [Accessed 15 May 2023]. 

University of the Arts, London. (2021) ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Annual report 2021/22’.