Daily Archives: 10 December, 2009

Book Review: Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich

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A word of caution: This review is going to be quite short, as I have been struggling with “getting words out” for the past few days. Regardless, I think this is an important book, and might be of interest to my fellow FWD-ers (bloggers and commenters!).

I touched upon the whole positive thinking movement (and why it offends me) at this very blog a while back; I’ve long had problems with the “Just think POSITIVE!” suggestion and attendant movement, and one piece that really got to the root of things, at least for me, was Ehrenreich’s 2001 essay, “Welcome to Cancerland,” which is about how positive thinking–bejewelled and be-ribboned with a heaping helping of traditional femininity and stereotypes about women, and particularly women who have survived breast cancer–has, for lack of a better word, swallowed the breast cancer “awareness” movement. [The essay is available at her website.] A revised version of the essay appears as the opening chapter to Bright-Sided, and Ehrenreich adds just enough salient facts to make reading the newer version worthwhile and not at all confusing to non-sciencey types like myself. (Ehrenreich has a PhD in Cell Biology.)

That said, the remainder of Bright-Sided proved to be a fast, engaging read. In fact, I wish it had been longer, and one chapter that could have used an expansion was the closing chapter on positive thinking’s effect on the recent U.S. economic crash. The book is also extremely U.S.-centric, but since positive thinking is one of those things that seems to have really taken flight in the North American consciousness, this is not particularly surprising. Unfortunately, with the exception of the breast cancer chapter, Ehrenreich does not specifically cover disability and/or chronic illness issues as they relate to the positive thinking movement. However, her book as a whole may have been designed to be rather “general” since the positive thinking movement impacts many people (for better or worse), not just those with disabilities. This generality is both a strength and a weakness, and I think Ehrenreich’s writing saves her points from being too non-specific.

I will leave you with a quote that stuck with me, from the book’s second chapter:

But in the world of positive thinking other people are not there to be nurtured or to provide unwelcome reality checks. They are only to nourish, praise and affirm. Harsh as this dictum sounds, many ordinary people adopt it as their creed, displaying wall plaques or bumper stickers showing the word “Whining” with a cancel sign through it. There seems to be a massive empathy deficit, which people respond to by withdrawing their own. No one has the time or patience for anyone else’s problems…When the gurus advise dropping “negative” people, they are also issuing a warning: smile and be agreeable, go with the flow–or prepare to be ostracized. (56-57)

Quote: “Who are ‘the Disabled’?”

Quotations

The disabled, therefore, are not a tangible and unproblematic collection of people but, rather, a population that is assumed to exist, a category into which able-bodied people can slot others who pose a threat to their own normal view of the world and to those who inhabit it, and into which those who identify themselves as disabled can welcome those whom they see as suffering the same marginalization and oppression as themselves. The issue of whether signing Deaf people are a linguistic minority or are disabled, for example, has generated intense debate within both Deaf communities and among disability rights activists. The problem of identity as being either Deaf or disabled derives from the way a disabled identity encompasses an individuals’ subjectivity in the same way as gender or race. Seeking to move beyond this essentialist view of identity, many Deaf people are seeking alliances with disability rights movements to counter the essentialist view that people with disabilities are inherently pathological. Those people are actively involved in the achievement of rights of people who are disabled refer to those who bask in their normality as “TABs” – temporarily able-bodied.

– Damned for their Difference: The Cultural Construction of Deaf People as Disabled, by Jan Branson & Don Miller, pp xi – xii.

Recommended Reading for December 10

recommended reading

Note that a number of blog links, media reports, and the comments therein may contain questionable language and/or clear description of abuse.

Upstart Magazine: Social media – a barrier or tool for inclusion?

Alex Varley, CEO of Media Access Australia, a not-for-profit devoted to promoting access to media for people with disabilities, says: ‘Social media are the cornerstones of modern communication and it is essential that people with disabilities, who can become socially isolated, are able to use these tools and stay connected with the world.’

Before the arrival of social media technology, Glenda Watson Hyatt, who lives with severe cerebral palsy, was unable to converse with most people, unless, as she says, they could understand ‘Glenda-ish’. Glenda now runs an eloquent blog, allowing her voice to be heard clearly and highlighting the difference between the way people with disabilities are perceived in the real world and through social media.

Glenda Watson Hyatt: 8 Simple Ways to Better Serve Customers with Disabilities During the Holiday Shopping Rush

3. Minimize extra products and displays in aisles. Cluttered aisles make navigating difficult for customers using wheelchairs, walkers and service dogs.[…]

[scooter-riding editor’s note: Quoted For Truth!]

BBC UK: ‘Fiasco’ of student loan failures

[…] a report into university loan delays in England found “conspicuous failures”. There have been widespread complaints about the Student Loans Company – with the problems still unresolved as the end of the university term approaches. […]

“The government were told about the problems with the system more than a year ago but they failed to act as it fell apart. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of students – and particularly those that are disabled – are facing hardship or having to drop out of university because they cannot afford to keep themselves,” said Shadow Universities and Skills Secretary, David Willetts.

Shots (NPR’s Health Blog): Lawmakers Seek Halt To Abuses Of Disabled Kids In School

Two investigatory reports earlier this year told disturbing stories of the harsh, and on occasion fatal, methods sometimes used to discipline disabled children in school. Now members of Congress are trying to stop the practice of relying on what’s known as restraint and seclusion.

Sydney Morning Herald: In education, one size does not always fit all

Federal Educationn Minister Julia Gillard announced in April that the Education Department would be delivering grants totalling $277.5 million to be spent on “maintenance and minor building works” in NSW. The list includes a host of NSW’s elite schools receiving money for car parks, music rooms and so on. A spokeswoman for Gillard said “in the education revolution, we are not discriminating against school sectors. Our aim is to ensure that every school is a great school”. Meanwhile, Kingsdene Special School is closing due to lack of funds.

Repeated pleas to the Federal Government for financial assistance are met with the stubborn reply that “Kingsdene is receiving the maximum funding according to the formula”. […] We don’t dispute that Kingsdene is receiving the maximum funding according to existing formulas. What we do dispute is the validity of existing funding formulas. In March 2009, a survey of public school principals across NSW, in mainstream and special schools, reported 100 per cent agreement that special education was underfunded and should be linked to students’ level of function, not the irrelevant, antiquated funding formulas currently used. We need new, innovative solutions that address reality.

Herald Sun: School bully makes Tyler Fishlock’s life hell

“I can’t dodge it. I can’t see him coming and I think ‘Oh God, here comes the monster again’,” said Tyler, 7. “I am terrified of him.”

[College director Patrick Waring said] “These are six-year-olds who are having a bit of trouble getting on with each other. We are not talking about high-end bullying, it is just spasmodic bad behaviour.”