'Disability as identity' - discussion thread

Posts copied or moved from the Long covid in the media thread

Where did this DeBoer person come from with his silly "theses"?

 

it’s reminiscent of the Spiked article regarding Long Covid. Presenting patients as meandering, sick role seeking, upper middle class whites is a time honored bipartisan trope. In fact it may be the only principle that left and right can recite in unison. Someone, perhaps the always eloquent Dave Tuller, should write an editorial about this canard, and how it transcends party politics.

 

What is meant with disability as identity? Does it just mean viewing myself as disabled?

 

I believe it suggests, in the case of ME, that individuals are frustrated with their unachievable ambitions and rather unimpressive lives. Having failed to garner recognition a legitimate way, they turn to bogus disabilities for attention and meaning

 

I'm not sure how anyone in touch with reality could come to the conclusion that ME/CFS is the result of people wanting an identity and meaning through the status of disabled person. Maybe less fantasizing, more talking to real people is what he needs?

What does he mean with "disability as just another identity class used for social positioning"?

 

Brendan O'Neill in Spiked 17th September 2021

'Is Long Covid a myth?'

'Middle-class hypochondria seems to play an important role in this ill-defined condition'

' ... in giving such a definitive name – Long Covid – to a mixed bag of symptoms, including symptoms that are actually part and parcel of being a busy working adult, is there a danger that we have socially constructed a disease? That we have invented a sickness and, worse, implicitly invited people to identify with this sickness as a way of explaining why they feel knackered or down or anxious? It’s time we asked these questions, and interrogated the Long Covid panic.'

'How much did the culture of fear around Long Covid help to convince people that they had it? And did a broader culture of victimhood likewise help to coax people to self-identify as suffering from this new, seemingly fascinating ailment, and even to embrace Long Covid as a kind of identity?'

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/09/17/is-long-covid-a-myth/

 

In my personal experience being ill gets me ignored. If my aim was to get attention then choosing to pretend to be ill would be a very poor strategy.

 

He thinks because he had mental health issues (bi-polar disorder) in his past that he is now qualified to write about disability in general. I think he's *reacting* to people with social anxiety and "mild" autism who have adopted what he perceives to be a disability identity.

But in general he is one of those "Right wing" academics
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/betwe...ers-the-cult-of-smart-misses-about-education/
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2022/05...ican-academia-is-vivid-and-depressing-n469754
https://www.businessinsider.com/cul...deboer-schools-marxism-cancel-culture-2020-10
https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/

I agree with several of the theses - that disability is not "beautiful" and should always be treated if possible - but he doesn't understand that the root of these views do not arise from the disability community, but rather ableism - able bodied people want to be told that disability isn't necessarily bad, so that they don't feel bad about disabled people.

 

Disability absolutely is being used by people for social positioning. It is very popular among younger folks on social media. On TikTok there is currently a big fad of young people faking mental disorders for attention. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

https://www.steadyhealth.com/articl...ders-on-social-media-what-should-parents-know

 

Not sure about this. I generally take a skeptical stance about claims of anyone faking illness for attention or gains. This must surely exist as phenomenon but I think it's more likely that the people so accused have real problems that are just misunderstood and don't fit the mental model of society of what disability and chronic illness should look like. It's very varied.

I can see how adolescents might have a strong need to build a positive identity that includes their disability and allows it to be visible (instead of suppressing and hiding it) and a need to be accepted by their peers. Which could lead to social media videos that to others might look like a questionable or fake illness for attention, or secondary gains, or wanting to be disabled when they are not.

 

Your underestimating the current worship of "identity" and identity politics among youth currently. It is at an almost religious level at this point. The intersection of identity politics plus social media has created an environment unlike any that previous generations have dealt with. Among a large swath of youth culture 'disability' currently brings with it social capital. The 'oppression olympics' are real. I am watching teens in my own life participating in it. People who are not disabled and/or mentally ill are absolutely claiming otherwise for 'popularity' reasons.

 

This is very possible, as I don't have contact with that age group and little exposure to its social media.

 

6 years ago when we had a CAMHS referral for anxiety pre ME this was becoming an issue.

Not necessarily from kids but seemed to be from parents as increased mental health awareness created a "niche". It was trendy amongst some to have a child with MH issues. It contributed to increased waiting periods and was the bane of GP and therapists lives. In an already struggling system it was a straw for a camel's back.

There are many Instagram and tik tok accounts where parents entire social profile and status is via their ( small ) kids who don't seem to have much input.

I'm sure that there are also kids for whom disability has become their identity rather than part of it.

Sad.

My daughter has specific views on ablism and disability derived from her ME experience. It's a subject " normal" people have very little comprehension . A bit like structural racism.
Gigi posted yesterday on ablism - trigger warning - very unpleasant

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CewIFA7gLCZu4oDEfI43mbGGc5-ubSnWF8S_XI0/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

@Amw66 The link you give is to a private account. Nobody will be able to read it. I don't know anything about Instagram. Can your daughter choose to make a single page public?

 

Hardly. It is just that there are new forms of identity that replace the old-fasioned ones - instead of identifying with political parties or ideologies like nationalism/fascism, have instead been fractured into fractalised identities. Nonetheless, race-based identities have remained, but as usual, white people pretend they are the norm and hence that it isn't actually an identity.

 

Regarding this Deboer did a really long post about why he didn’t believe Ross Douthat’s claim in his book https://www.s4me.info/threads/how-i-became-a-sick-person—ross-douthat-nyt.22936/#post-389610 that he suffered from Chronic Lyme.

https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/review-ross-douthats-the-deep-places?s=r

11 “The endless proliferation of disabilities through boutique diagnoses such as “ME-CFS” and “chronic Lyme” stem fundamentally from market need - there is a market desire for additional disabilities to create identity and meaning, and so the medical community is creating additional disabilities”

 

At least he got the description of himself right.