Disability fact file
Social disabilities
It could be argued that, under capitalism, any obvious disability carries
a social stigma because of the widespread prejudice against disabled people.
However, in the cases of some disabilities - notably autism, attention defecit
disorder, and tourettes syndrome - their degree of handicap is defined by the
degree of inability to socially interact with the majority of people.
Other disabilities, such as disfigurement or weak bladder syndrome, have symptoms
which are seen as "disgusting" by society.
What all these disabilities have in common is that social attitudes are directly,
rather than indirectly, the main cause of the associated handicaps.
Types of social disability
- disabilities which hinder the ability to communicate or interact with others,
eg autism, aspergers syndrome, and direct communication disabilities such
as deafness and speech disabilities
- disabilities which lead to unconventional behaviour, such as tourettes syndrome,
several types of mental illness, and epilepsy.
- disabilities which affect "private" bodily functions, such as
weak bladder, diabetes, diarrhoea, and flatulence
- disabilities which affect visual appearance, such as disfigurement, deformity
or dwarfism, or which affect other types of appearance such as speech
disabilities or co-ordination disabilities.
- other disabilities which carry a social stigma, such as HIV/AIDS.
How are people with social disabilities handicapped by capitalism ?
- The decline of manufacturing industries and the rise in service industries
mean that an increasing number of jobs involve contact with the public (eg
in restaurants or call centres). Disabled people are often more likely to
be accepted in the workplace by their workmates, who get to know them, than
by the general public who are unlikely to get to know them as people. (Indeed,
it is likely that the rise in interest in disabilities such as autism goes
hand-in-hand with the move in the UK from a manufacturing to a service economy
- see here).
- Under any class society, including capitalism, "the ideas of the ruling
class are the dominant ideas in society" (Karl Marx). So our concepts
of what is or is not socially acceptable have largely trickled down to us
from the capitalist Establishment.
- In times of economic hardship caused by the instabnility of capitalism,
alienation - itself a product of capitalist society - tends to make people
less tolerant of diversity.
How can people in general benefit from measures to incorporate
all disabled people into society?
- Tolerance of people who are different from oneself costs nothing, and would
vastly improve the freedom of lifestyle open to all
- Reduced intolerance would remove one of the major causes of bullying and
violence
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