Re: Re: please post and distribute

[Doyle Saylor <djsaylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings Economists,
    Marta's quick commentary on the Dollar and Sense article and discussion
on an ethics list was interesting in regard to how ableism gets neglected in
progressive lists of exploitation in capitalist social structure.

Marta,
I've bought the issue of disability up in a 'liberal' discussion forum
before and it's usually ignored or one gets Peter Singer enthusiasts. In
general I find the pseudo-liberal preaching about diversity and
multiculturalism clearly doesn't include disabled people, in fact being
'progressive', for pseudo-liberals, usually means they support
euthanasia and eugenics as they feel these things are 'modern' or
represent 'progress'.

Doyle
The issue of ableism cries out for a class analysis/political economy look
at the social meaning of things.  For me the deepest issue are where
cognitive disabilities are affected by the social system.  One of the most
interesting things Marta raised to my attention a couple of years ago was
about if someone can't work how the left tends to emphasize that work is the
reason for meaning in someone's life.

Cognitive disabilities; stroke, Alzheimer's, autism, schizophrenia, etc. are
difficult to conceptualize in a system of liberation, since the deepest
forms of oppression engulf those categories.  I just asked (tonight) a
friend of mine to define ableism, and her reply was stereotyping disabled
people, assuming superiority over disabled people.  Ableism must be more
than that simple description.

I think a political economy look at the class structure involved with
disabled people would be a powerful tool on the left for expanding the
reality of the whole working class.  How and why employment and unemployment
really impact disabled people.  Etc.

Those disabled people who become conscious of what liberation means often
seem to have revolutionary spirit in the most powerful raw form.  I think
this reflects how oppressive the system is that people can so fervently
grasp what change can mean, if they can step out of society norms imposed
upon disability.  Of course not every disabled person is going to have a
revolutionaries spirit.  Nor can a rich disabled person have the same
perspective as someone closely tied to the working class.
thanks,
Doyle Saylor