Blogging Against Disablism DayMay 1st 2009
Click on the image above to go to “Diary of a Goldfish” blog to see what this is all about and to see what everyone else has written…
This may not seem like the most important issue, it may even seem that i am being a bit picky, but recently i have been hearing the phrase “Anyone can do it!” exclaimed with such enthusiasm and gusto a few too many times… and always about things i cannot do… at all.
Sometimes it is fairly understandable and about things that most people can do, bit sometimes it borders on the ridiculous:
The other week i was watching “Countryfile” on the BBC and the presenter was climbing up a wall of rock in a disused mine, using clips and ropes. The original miners would have just risked falling off as they did not use such safety gear and, on discussing this, the presenter exclaims something along the lines of ” Now with this safety gear, ANYONE can do this!”
Now i am no killjoy and i am so happy to see people exhilarated and enthusiastic about things, and i would let it go if i had not been hearing it over and over again…
Even an “almost anyone”, while not correct, would at least acknowledge that there are some people who cannot.
When you think about all the people who are too ill, too disabled, generally unfit, elderly, scared of heights or of a nervous disposition, or too young to safely scale a rock face, etc etc with any amount of equipment; it makes you think that probably less than a quarter of the population could actually do it! However many, the number of people who are fit physically and mentally to undertake such an activity are definitely in the minority.
Later in the same program, people were sloshing around in rivers, kind of body surfing through white water, jumping down waterfalls and the like. It was Cumbria in winter, so they all had wetsuits on but it was evidently freezing even with all the gear (there were icicles), not to mention very physical. To give him his due, the presenter on this part said “anyone of average ability can do this”… which was an improvement, but i think actually when you average out all the people in the country it is still an above average kind of activity isn’t it?
Then the other day i went into the living room and my partner had switched on the London Marathon. I thought, “ok, how long til i hear it” and started to check my email, not really listening. I swear within four minutes i heard those magic words “If i can do this, REALLY, anyone can!”. Again, i don’t want to diminish the guy’s acheivement (and as i say i was not really listening, so i don’t know his personal story) he seemed to be inferring he had been through some illness and happily come out the other side. We all make generalisations, and he was high on adrenaline, happy to be alive and chuffed with himself, with good reason, but my point still stands.
We cannot all run a marathon. We cannot all climb mountains, scale rock faces, overcome our illnesses and limitations.
To say that “anyone” can do these things renders us invisible and as not qualifying as “anyone”; as people that count.
I love watching programs about the outdoors, nature, countryside and wildlife. It is hard enough not being able to access these landscapes in reality very often or in the same ways that i used to, without being told that anyone who is anyone, can.
I was talking to someone about this and she said that it is like saying “people think that Muslims are…” or “people find homosexuality…” as if they do not count as valid “people” with positive opinions about themselves! In talking about “people” or “anyone” in a way that is obviously excluding a (rather large) subgroup of the population, we are thoughtlessly dismissed and dropped into another (lower) category of personhood.
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May 1, 2009 at 5:02 pm
rachelcreative
Yep. That one gets on my nerves too. And yes it kind of alienates me and places me as an outsider because I can’t. Not I think I can’t, I actually can’t. Not I can with the right specialist equipment and help and access programme – I still can’t. If I can’t bath myself and I can’t stand for longer than a few minutes I’m pretty certain I can’t go for a 15 minute walk 3 times a week, or learn to dance, or scale a rock face, or train for a marathon, or cook fresh meals from scratch after selecting produce from the farmshop … etc etc.
May 1, 2009 at 5:18 pm
When My Disability Is Invisible « RachelCreative
[…] Ashy’s Blog: “Anyone can do it” […]
May 1, 2009 at 5:20 pm
ashysheela
yeah that#s a typical one – “anyone can make this at home” ha.
Funny you should mention specialist equipment etc as the longer version of this post which i was in no state to make coherent enough went on to talk of reasonable adjustments, specialist equipment (wheelchairs etc) and the view that “anyone can do x” now that these things exist… but sometimes there are no adaptations and we are just too ill… and that is ok and we should not be seen as less valuable than the disabled olympian! Well that’s the edited version 😉
May 1, 2009 at 8:15 pm
NTE
I don’t know why I’m surprised that these BADD posts are hitting home, they always do, but I’d thought that this was just one of my pet peeves. I’m more likely to think I’m being overly sensitive that to see that it’s actually a pervasive disabilist way of thinking. Kudos to you for calling it like it is.
May 1, 2009 at 8:57 pm
ashysheela
thanks NTE, glad it rings true for you…
May 2, 2009 at 10:49 am
Mary
What is worse for me is when it’s not a simple case of No, I Cannot Do That, but must be qualified, as in: Yes, technically, if I had no other demands on my energy, I would be able to do that, after a fashion, on a good day, if I was prepared to take stupid risks, and deal with the impact afterwards…
May 4, 2009 at 2:23 pm
ashysheela
yes mary, there are also things that fall into this category, though if i cannot say for definite in advance that i CAN do them, or it depends on all those factors, then really it feels like the same thing to me. When we can do things it is a bonus, but to assume everyone can, at any time, then blithely carry on with their day is just not true for us eh?
May 3, 2009 at 5:10 pm
misswaxie
It’s not nitpicky at all – I imagine “anyone can do it” is to the disabled/chronically ill community as an annoying infomerical’s “You won’t believe your eyes!” phrase is to blind people. (That said, blind people likely fall into the catagory of people who can’t use the amazing chopper or ginsu knife… probably…or am I, too, being disablist?)
I think one of the worst things about the diaspora of effects live with disease leaves on us, is that there are things that truly get under our skin – that make us feel less than – that were absolutely not intended too, yet we have to confront them on a daily basis. From an all together too heavy doors in nearly EVERY medical building, to not being able to park in a handicap space on a particularly bad day for fear of stares and looks, to “anybody can do it” ….well, if we have to be bombarded with stuff like this, you’re certainly allowed to speak up about it in yo’ blog!! 🙂
– Miss Waxie
http://acomiclifeindeed.wordpress.com
May 4, 2009 at 2:27 pm
ashysheela
hi miss waxie, thanks for reassuring me it’s ok to speak up! Yes those heavy hospital doors and the staff who lead us down corridors at high speed even when they open them for us, are so annoying!
May 3, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Weekly News Round-Up - Blogging Against Disablism « Women’s Health News
[…] “Anyone can do it” – by Ashy at Ashy’s Blog. This particular post stood out to me because it is about the assumptions and privilege involved in proclaiming that “anyone can do it” – whatever “it” is. Someone was useful enough to set me straight on this particular issue some time ago, when I dismissed thanks for my efforts by explaining that it was no problem, that anyone could have done it. Not only was I undermining my own achievement, I was ignoring and minimizing the barriers others might have faced in encountering the same tasks. Coming from a geology undergrad and eco-friendly non-profit experience, I’ve also seen a lot of outdoorsy activities planned with assumption of universal ability to participate, often with consequences (official or otherwise) for non-participation. I hope that as I move through my career, I can keep an eye out that I’m not asking people to participate in activities “anyone” can do without considering the range of obstacles that might be between here and “it.” […]