Hello!
My apologies…I have
been neglecting the blog. I appreciate that Jo has been keeping up with the
posts and keeping things active. I’ve had a lot of changes in my life as of
late and been busy with work and school. None the less I am happy to be
back. Recently a friend (facebook friend: Amanda Achtman)
asked for my opinion on the article:“ The Photo That Broke a Mother's Heart that ran in the Calgary Herald and now seems to be making the rounds on facebook. Here's the link to the story below:
(http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/photo+that+broke+mother+heart/8523350/story.html
)
A short summary: A young boy who uses a wheelchair was photographed with his class for picture day but, forced to sit off to the side well out of the centre of the photo. He does not even appear to be apart of his class in the photo. His parents are upset about the photo and feel he was treated differently by the photographer and the school because he is disabled
I find it particularly interesting the Herald
has chosen to run a story about a class photo when the province of Alberta has
just made massive cuts to their attendant services and services for persons
with developmental disabilities programs.
Learn more about system oppression of disabled people in Alberta below:
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2013/05/20130531-190112.html
These are the programs which provide people with disabilities and seniors
attendant services and supports to be active and included in the community.
I thought my answer and reflections on the article about the photo were worthy of a
blog post…rather than spamming everyone’s wall with my opinion.
While,
I feel perhaps a school photo doesn’t merit a viral news story. I sincerely
wish we could get this outraged about a lack of accessible housing or cuts to
outreach attendant supports which allow people with disabilities to live and
work independently. I feel this is a great example of how systemic
discrimination bleeds into the everyday and mundane experience. The disabled
boy being awkwardly positioned and seemingly excluded from the photo is a
mircosim of what happens when we willfully as a society allow for the
“othering” and marginalization of another group based on difference. We
organize our societies with an “expected or assumed” able body in mind then we
put the burden on the individual who we understand as different to conform.
It
is no wonder the photographer set up the picture in such an exclusionary way.
If we use Toronto as an example (sorry, I live in Toronto at the moment). The
Toronto District school board still hosts 8 fully segregated schools for
disabled students (students do have the ‘right’ to go to a mainstream school
but, are encouraged to go to the ‘special’ schools). In Toronto there is a 8
year waiting list for wheelchair accessible rental apartments. Only 15% of
adults with disabilities hold jobs and of those there is almost chronic under
employment. If people with disabilities are not actively involved in our
schools, are not in our workforce, and struggle to be our neighbors and
friends. How is the “average” person supposed to understand and imagine a
disabled person within the context of our daily life if they are never “there”
in meaningful ways? We create an exclusionary system and then get confused when
it manifest within the everyday. It is likely that the photographer did not go
to school with anyone with a disability. It is possible the photographer moves
through their community never interacting with a disabled person in a
meaningful way and therefore does not have the capacity to understand a
disabled boy as legitimate. How this manifest on a practical level is a professional
photographer would not have the experience or skills to do a visually pleasing
class photo including a boy in a wheelchair. The common argument is that
“people just don’t know” and we just have to have “diversity training. However,
I would argue it’s not about having a two day training it’s about creating a
society where we expect a body of difference, so much so that we intrinsically
“know” how to take photos of people in wheelchairs.
I think it is easier to
report on things like class photo exclusion because if we examined the systemic
issues that create these more minor situations we as a society would be forced
to examine our current social organization and that means doing something. It's
easier to pity victims than to ask why they are victims?
While obviously the photographer's idea of symmetry is way off, I find it extremely disappointing that the teacher of the class, as well as the student's attendant (if present), didn't INSIST upon this student being treated the same as everyone else.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the fact that the photographer may never have interacted with a disabled person in a meaningful way... while I respect your opinion, I just don't buy that. It's just common sense and good manners to treat everyone with respect regardless of their ability or previous interactions.
I wonder what would have happened if the teacher had been the one in the wheelchair, would the photographer have had the students gather 'round him/her?
That's an interesting question. What if the person in the wheelchair had been the teacher? I have observed that when disability is intersected with an identity that is respected it is often thought of or positioned differently. For example when soldiers return from war, they are praised for their sacrifices and not pitied because they are "sick". It would be interesting to see how the photographer would of reacted.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment :)