tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89615798467982455602024-03-13T13:27:12.502-04:00 Flying Kitty MonsterTim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-56098450272861070782023-10-17T08:45:00.000-04:002023-10-17T08:45:33.809-04:00So Compassionate It Hurts<p><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Tzemah Yoreh, So Compassionate It Hurts: My Life as a Rabbi on the Spectrum. N.p.,
Modern Scriptures, 2022.</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“Nothing about us, without us”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These words have long
been the disability community’s mantra. But even now it is routine for anyone living with visible conditions to have “experts” tell “us” what we need. So it is
hardly a surprise that neurodiversity, being less visible, is one where it is
still routine to brush aside the thoughts of those who live with it. “We” are
categorized, labeled, given diagnoses of what is “wrong” and needs to be
“fixed.” We are rarely asked what would really help, and even more rarely is
there any acknowledgment that we have strengths and abilities.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Rabbi Yoreh’s story
begins with a story of self-discovery that is frequent for many of today's adults: knowing
they are different, but not having good descriptive terminology, all the time
seeking to understand differences. In the process of exploration, he upends the medical model of a deficit
to be fixed and brings us to a social model of having much to contribute. The book is his invitation to join a quest to learn if
his success is “because of” or “in spite of” the gifts which autism brings (35).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8DS2dupXGJYLEvwZv1LcHcvG_DjiiL6CcEHfbCCcjUkl6QeqNeov-_VzsXEuYU-WvFRGhQTxegeJN7ngtnwhxNwSh2oH45BF2CBIKF_hCx08rsD7Mz6C9aowoehliFMkup-bDBotijeCBTIM27PUl4QEjUizL-ISKMuM6sO9uvA_m38JJOqVX1amw3o/s1500/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="book cover" border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="994" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8DS2dupXGJYLEvwZv1LcHcvG_DjiiL6CcEHfbCCcjUkl6QeqNeov-_VzsXEuYU-WvFRGhQTxegeJN7ngtnwhxNwSh2oH45BF2CBIKF_hCx08rsD7Mz6C9aowoehliFMkup-bDBotijeCBTIM27PUl4QEjUizL-ISKMuM6sO9uvA_m38JJOqVX1amw3o/w265-h400/3.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Central to discovery is the charge to love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19). To the author's mind, surface answers are not sufficient. He finds resolution by realizing that the task is impossible, rather is it one to strive for. He finds strength from living in a world that has not been built for people like him, which has
resulted in better realization of the obstacles that others face. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">From that realization he
finds other characteristics: a sense of fairness and equality coupled with an
understanding that while needed, authority is often balanced toward those with
various advantages. He is not a good liar, which is a “freeing” gift (40). But
while freeing, this gift has another side: a heightened sense of conflict and
of cognitive dissonance. In the end, it creates compassion for those whose
sense of equality leads to understanding and kindness in creating space for
those who are different.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Another step is the
perception that neurodiverse people wish to be left alone, and thus, we hear
again, that they lack compassion. The inside reality, however, is that social
interaction is draining due to the need to figure out what others are really
saying in a given situation. He gives an analogy to expending calories like an
Olympic distance runner, but being unable to sweat, and as a result, his CPU
overheats. One can love an activity but need breaks. This, in turn, leads to a
need for patterns in life—with the result anything out of the pattern is a
stress factor. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Finally, a theological
note (and complaint about history education). Many studies link autism to atheism or agnosticism. This is, as I read
it, not so much a lack of belief as an inability to grasp the idea of a great
otherness, stemming from that pragmatic nature. The early church “fathers”
include a school of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/101650223279/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">apophatic theology</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">—one
that is very similar, but recognizes some kind of source to all, however
inconceivable. Our systems don't do a good job of transmitting ancient wisdom, leaving us to continually re-invent the wheel! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the end, whatever chasm lies between understanding the world of
neurodivergence and neurotypicality (<a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/06/just-setting-on-dryer.html " target="_blank">whatever that might be</a>) and one's idea of the divine, I am sure that she is thrilled with the rabbi’s
mantra of “being as kind as possible” (104). If more people had such a level of
compassion (or listened to those who do), this world would be a far better
place.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Disclosure of Material
Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through
the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a
positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this
in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/rabbionthespectrum" target="_blank">Rabbi On The Spectrum</a> (Facebook) / </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://rabbionthespectrum.com/" target="_blank">Author's website</a></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><i><br /></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-54413912547999655862023-08-29T09:23:00.000-04:002023-08-29T09:23:48.424-04:00Discussing Amy Kenny, part 3<p style="text-align: center;">I</p><p style="text-align: left;">The discussion sessions for My Body Is Not a Prayer Request have finished, but I wanted to share some further resources for those who are interested in following up on topics we touched on. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Anabaptist Disabilities Network: <a href="https://www.anabaptistdisabilitiesnetwork.org/">https://www.anabaptistdisabilitiesnetwork.org/</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">Christian Reformed Church Thrive: <a href="https://www.crcna.org/disability">https://www.crcna.org/disability</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">(Episcopal) Deaf and Disabilities Ministry Exchange: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DisabilityMinstryExchange">https://www.facebook.com/DisabilityMinstryExchange</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">Presbyterians for Disability Concerns: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PresbyteriansForDisabilityConcerns">https://www.facebook.com/PresbyteriansForDisabilityConcerns</a> and <a href="http://www.phewacommunity.org/pdcdisabilityconcerns.html">http://www.phewacommunity.org/pdcdisabilityconcerns.html</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">RespectAbility: <a href="https://www.respectability.org/">https://www.respectability.org/</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RespectAbilityUSA">https://www.facebook.com/RespectAbilityUSA</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">UCC Disability Ministries: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/UCCDM/">https://www.facebook.com/UCCDM/</a> and <a href="https://uccdm.org/">https://uccdm.org/</a> </p><p style="text-align: left;">United Methodist Committee on Disability Ministries Ministries: <a href="https://umcdmc.org/">https://umcdmc.org/</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DisAbilityMinistriesUM">https://www.facebook.com/DisAbilityMinistriesUM</a>. Deaf and hard-of-hearing ministries is a separate group, <a href="https://umdeaf.org">https://umdeaf.org</a></p><p style="text-align: center;">II</p><p style="text-align: left;">On 193, Kenny offers a reading list. I have expanded this into the other topics of this series, as well as a few updates that post-date her book, with a look at liberation theology and history, which forms the foundation of all the books. Links included for those I have written about.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Black, Kathy. <i>A Healing Homiletic: Preaching and Disability</i>. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996. Pioneering application of Eiesland’s principles in re-visioning the implications of healing in the gospels.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Bushman, Richard. <i>The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities</i>. New York: Vintage, 1993. A survey of one of the few trickle-down theories that have worked, chapter 3 traces the Enlightenment notion of a well-ordered body, but doesn’t carry through to disability (although that is not the topic of the book).</p><p style="text-align: left;">Cone, James. <i>A Black Theology of Liberation</i> (50th anniversary edition). Maryknoll: Orbis Books 2020. With Wilkerson, important background for Kendi as well as the tone of the disability movement.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Davie, Ann, and Ginny Thornburgh. <i>That All May Worship: an interfaith welcome to people with disabilities</i>. Washington: National Organization on Disability, 1997. OP, available online: <a href="https://sacredplaces.org/uploads/files/462725613607030908-that-all-may-worship.pdf">https://sacredplaces.org/uploads/files/462725613607030908-that-all-may-worship.pdf</a>.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Davis, Lennard, ed. <i>The Disability Studies Reader</i>, 4th ed. New York: Routledge, 2013. Wide-ranging textbook, a more comprehensive version of the Nielsen history listed by Kinney.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Eiesland, Nancy. <i>The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability</i>. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994. Groundbreaking application of liberation theology to disability that proclaims God as disabled. Includes a Eucharist that got me into trouble in seminary.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Gutierrez, Gustavo. <i>A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation</i> (15th anniversary) Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1988. From a Catholic priest who originated the term liberation theology.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Hiebert, Theodore. <i>The Beginning of Difference: Discovering Identity in God’s Diverse World</i>. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2019. <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-theology-of-diversity.html">http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-theology-of-diversity.html</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">Jordan, Winthrop. <i>White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812</i>. Penguin, 1969. <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/05/white-over-black.html">http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/05/white-over-black.html</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">Kenny, Amy. <i>My Body is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church</i>. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press. <a href="https://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2022/08/sturmisch-bewegt.html">https://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2022/08/sturmisch-bewegt.html</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">Melcher, Sarah, Mikeal Parsons, Amos Yong, eds. <i>The Bible and Disability</i>. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2017. More comprehensive than the Yong book that Kenny cites in her list. <a href="https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=51631">https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=51631</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">Rieger, Joerg and Priscila Silva, “Liberation Theologies and Their Future: Rethinking Categories and Popular Participation in Liberation” <i>Religions</i> 14 (7, 2023): 925 (<a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14070925">https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14070925</a>)</p><p style="text-align: left;">Walker, Robert L., ed., <i>Speaking Out: Gifts of Ministering Undeterred by Disabilities</i>. United Methodist Association of Ministers with Disabilities, 2012. Ecumenical, stories of people with disabilities called to ministries.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Wilkerson, Isabel. <i>Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents</i>. New York: Random House, 2020. <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-caste-for-casts.html">http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-caste-for-casts.html</a></p><p style="text-align: center;">III</p><span style="text-align: left;">News items that came up during the discussions.</span><div><br /></div><div>Dingle, Shannon, “This is why disabled people were no devastated by the Christian silence on health care” <i>Washington Post</i> July 28, 2017. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/07/28/this-is-why-disabled-people-were-so-devastated-by-the-christian-silence-on-health-care/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/07/28/this-is-why-disabled-people-were-so-devastated-by-the-christian-silence-on-health-care/</a>: among the justice concerns that churches need address about disabilities.<p style="text-align: left;">Garson, Justin, “Seeing Depression as Having a Purpose Could Aid Healing” <i>Psychology Today</i> June 19, 2023. <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-biology-of-human-nature/202306/how-seeing-depression-as-purposeful-may-promote-healing">https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-biology-of-human-nature/202306/how-seeing-depression-as-purposeful-may-promote-healing</a>: on the question of why conditions are labeled “disorders”.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Kase, Em, “Make your local LGBTQ+ Pride Event Wheelchair Accessible” <a href="https://unitedspinal.org/make-your-local-lgbtq-pride-event-wheelchair-accessible/">https://unitedspinal.org/make-your-local-lgbtq-pride-event-wheelchair-accessible/</a>: far too few “inclusive” events are really inclusive</p><p style="text-align: left;">Velle, Elaine, “National Gallery of Art Apologizes for Removing Visitor with Disability” <i>Hyperallergic</i> July 25, 2023. <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/835400/national-gallery-of-art-apologizes-for-removing-visitor-with-disability/">https://hyperallergic.com/835400/national-gallery-of-art-apologizes-for-removing-visitor-with-disability/</a>: “So many disabled people have had experiences being excluded at galleries and not being able to attend. A lot of times, disabled people get exhausted from having to ask over and over so they just stop.”</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p></div>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-43287041145002057182023-08-07T08:42:00.011-04:002023-08-08T09:48:42.995-04:00Discussing Amy Kenny, part 2<p>The second discussion session of Amy Kenny's <i>My Body is Not a Prayer Request</i> tied up some loose ends from before and then turned to the medical and social models of disability and their implications. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We started with some addenda to the previous discussion. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Another factor for acknowledging justice concerns is not only opposition to the ADA from religious organizations, but later to laws such as the Affordable Care Act, particularly those dealing with pre-existing conditions, coverage of mental health, and universal coverage.</span></li><li style="text-indent: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px; text-indent: -24px;">The “crip tax” (63): costs of disability that aren’t covered by insurance. Examples include the Indiana vehicle excise tax: an adapted van can cost $60,000, and if bought as a finished unit, which is often necessary, the tax is charged on the full price, instead of an unmodified van.</span></span></li><li style="text-indent: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px; text-indent: -24px;">Compounding historic opposition to the ADA and similar measures, churches have a troubled past. Eugenics was once popular among churches as well as elsewhere, and resulted in so-called ugly laws, involuntary sterilization, and unnecessary institutionalization. Thinking of Kendi's book, racial laws often specified that a small amount of Black ancestry resulted in a legal description of being racially Black despite appearances, similar to determinations of Jewish ancestry of the Nuremberg Racial Laws. People with disabilities were the first to be killed in that period as well (Aktion T4)</span></span></li><li style="text-indent: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px; text-indent: -0.25in;">ADA accommodations are enforced by civil lawsuit. They have been used as a scapegoat, e.g. Georgia voting locations that made voting difficult for minorities were "needed" because of a lack of ADA-compliant accessibility. </span></li><li style="text-indent: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px; text-indent: -0.25in;">Transportation is often a problem: ride-share drivers often zip by or refuse people with service dogs or assistive devices. A local residential facility doesn’t operate its transportation van on weekends, relying on ride-share, which can be uncertain. </span></li><li style="text-indent: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px; text-indent: -0.25in;">Restaurants seat people with visible disabilities in unsuitable locations, and while there’s less of it, servers often ask a companion what a disabled person desires. See the list on 52-53 for many other real-life situations.</span></li><li style="text-indent: 0px;">One can also get stuck in a loop: an agency or company can’t legally say no, but never get around to saying yes.</li></ul><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Kenny
mentions a medical model of disability (10ff). It is one of two that are
generally used, the other being social. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
medical model focuses on medically diagnosed impairments as something to be
fixed and made “normal.” It is an individual point, and leads to variations
from “normal” being labeled as “disorders.”</span><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></li><li><span style="line-height: 17.12px; text-indent: -24px;">The use of “disorder” in a diagnosis is increasingly challenged. Trauma responses, for one, are not disorders: as one member stated, PTSD is “a reasonable response to an unreasonable experience” and a healthy response, which, if not expressed, can lead to serious problems. (An emerging term is “moral injury”). Likewise, neurodiverse conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder are not something that is wrong, but a different pattern of activity. (For a thoughtful article along these lines, see</span><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Justin Garson, “Seeing Depression as Having a Purpose
Could Aid Healing” <i>Pyschology Today </i>June 19, 2023. <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-biology-of-human-nature/202306/how-seeing-depression-as-purposeful-may-promote-healing">https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-biology-of-human-nature/202306/how-seeing-depression-as-purposeful-may-promote-healing</a>)</span></li><li>Stigma is often part of a diagnosis, and especially mental problems. “Mental illness” is often scapegoated in media and politics. </li><li><span style="line-height: 17.12px; text-indent: -0.25in;">Mental illness is often wrongly equated with neurological conditions.</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 17.12px; text-indent: -0.25in;">Reality is that those with mental illness are far more likely to be the victims of violence than perpetrators. Mental health is often difficult to get covered by health insurance, compounding the problem.</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 17.12px; text-indent: -0.25in;">One result of the medical model is the charitable appeal, portraying people with disabilities as the object of pity, and asking others to provide relief through patronizing appeals for donations and actions that involve doing things <i>for </i>disabled people. The Labor Day Telethon is perhaps best-known in American culture, and it has led to much discussion of “inspiration porn.” The term was coined by the late Stella Young, known in disability circles for saying that a good attitude can’t make stairs into ramps. Rather than celebrate accomplishments in context, it holds disabled people up as inspiring examples of “overcoming” their disability and is regarded as exploitation by many.</span></li></ul><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy11uIY6WoMH0d-mPnVw_-eyslzftgSXtRR2cPkdpTzcdMS5SCnxTPvcfwIXo5RRzYZeuEL1l4UvZM5z_4JdkyYH5XPkVkrUKaB_wIwXoJOHqsS-12tKZDFlvRiNJSVSm_dY-kpFK2GOiXRcqob8VQZtmhoRADA3aVIq-pJpBqTFeikMwXtDLdtsDQFFw/s549/disability-StellaYoung.jpg"><img alt="A woman sitting in a power wheelchair states: that quote, the only disability in life is a bad attitude, the reason that's bullshit is ... No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp. No amount of standing in the middle of a bookshelf and radiating a positive attitude is going to turn all those books into braille. Stella Young." border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="549" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy11uIY6WoMH0d-mPnVw_-eyslzftgSXtRR2cPkdpTzcdMS5SCnxTPvcfwIXo5RRzYZeuEL1l4UvZM5z_4JdkyYH5XPkVkrUKaB_wIwXoJOHqsS-12tKZDFlvRiNJSVSm_dY-kpFK2GOiXRcqob8VQZtmhoRADA3aVIq-pJpBqTFeikMwXtDLdtsDQFFw/w400-h164/disability-StellaYoung.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The social model acknowledges the reality of medical diagnoses and impairments, but maintains that people are disabled by built environment, culture, and similar factors. The diagnosis not the ultimate arbiter. As a cultural model, it challenges what is considered "normal." It focuses on Universal Design, </span><span style="text-indent: -24px;">a growing movement in the design of facilities that enables community integration. For example, ramps and power doors also benefit delivery people and parents pushing strollers</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">.</span><div><ul><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">As we have been reminded this summer, following the Revised Common Lectionary, Genesis states that God’s creation is good (Genesis 1.31) in all of its diversity.</span>·</li><li><span style="line-height: 17.12px; text-indent: -0.25in;">In churches, the social model is reflected in full participation and use of “ministry with” rather than the charitable model of “ministry to.” It is not an “outreach ministry” but an “inclusion effort.”</span></li><li>Concerns in churches include community integration and inclusion, leadership development (many still refuse or place serious obstacles to disabled leaders at any level).· <span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></li></ul></div>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The group is now taking a break. Sessions for </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Fat Church </i><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">are scheduled
after the break, and then there will be sessions covering all three books. A
resource list for this book will follow soon.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p></div></div>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-35002223810202875542023-07-25T15:50:00.000-04:002023-07-25T15:50:19.134-04:00Discussing Amy Kenny, part 1<p>A church in the Indianapolis area is conducting a summer reading group for three books. The first was Ibram Kendi, <i>How to be an Anti-Racist. </i>The second, which I am leading, is Amy Kenny, <i>My Body is Not a Prayer Request.</i> The third (late August) will be Anastasia Kidd, <i>Fat Church. </i></p><p>This post shares notes and thoughts from the first group session, July 23, 2023.This places the start of the discussion during Disability Pride Month, which centers around the ADA signing on July 26, 1990. </p><p>I see a common root among the three books: liberation theology, a movement whose origins come from Latin America in the 1960’s (although, historically, one could make the case that the principles and many movements date to late antiquity). Liberation theology argues that the Bible shows a God who has a particular concern for the oppressed, who has worked through history to bring change for these groups. </p><p>When I was in seminary, our disabled students group allied with the African-American students group on the basis of liberation theology. We discussed the problems arising from judgments based on external appearances without considering the abilities of those involved. The three books in this group are linked by attitudes and activism informed by this approach. Kendi’s work shows the need for anti-racism: action and advocacy against racist attitudes and structures (it should also be noted that Kendi narrates his own growth in this area). Kenny likewise calls for anti-ableism: challenging prejudice and discrimination in attitudes, and structural changes, including but not limited to the built environment and exclusionary practices. </p><p>We discussed points of contact with disability, including:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>the vagueness and problems of rapidly evolving language, of often not knowing what to do, not having a diagnosis, having an unusual condition, or being misinformed (this can also include the difficulty of keeping up with medical advances, such as recent findings in neurodiversity)</li><li>seeing people for who they really are, not for the disability</li><li>not talking about it, or using euphemisms ("infantile paralysis" for polio, "differently abled") and similar fearful responses akin to early reactions to HIV</li><li>some churches that do not believe a disability exists, which is especially true of those with neurological differences being told to behave or believe and be healed; as the book title indicates, some churches have taught a theology of miraculous healing instead of inclusion in the community </li><li>being "out": many disabilities are invisible, and because of discrimination concerns, the people who have them are often reluctant to disclose</li><li>general invisibility: it was only in the 1960's that people with disabilities began to appear in public social life; today's social media has been helpful in resolving this, as well as creating a sense of community and support </li><li>impairments that are not viewed as a disability, vision correction being one example--this has a long history, including the Reformation theologian John Calvin (see section IV <a href="https://www.flyingkittymonster.net/tim/307.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>) or being letf-handed (once regarded as a sign of being cursed, and still difficult in many situations)</li><li>housing is still a problem, with refusals to accommodate and a general lack of physical access features. </li></ul><div><p>We then discussed various topics that arose (and touched on others that we will likely come back to).</p><p></p><ul></ul></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3WLQv4-a9_my7jxIOwarF5QyuTt6-tpC_xum_Nj-PTVekMVtJP4F4YVeLBJe3DeHpnTwef0IXMb1EBUwmd9N_Z16NenyOrZj1Hp9IH_TJmDAtzLvtmqFKcTXAytF6RYXiaGhBKlkA4r25gvYrCERwPLK2DA-8YTCuMbogmHa2zbEaujd5wB2Mzrr7Ic/s960/norm.jpg"><img alt="A young girl asks "Mom, what is normal?" A 1950's looking woman answers, "it's just a setting on the dryer."" border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3WLQv4-a9_my7jxIOwarF5QyuTt6-tpC_xum_Nj-PTVekMVtJP4F4YVeLBJe3DeHpnTwef0IXMb1EBUwmd9N_Z16NenyOrZj1Hp9IH_TJmDAtzLvtmqFKcTXAytF6RYXiaGhBKlkA4r25gvYrCERwPLK2DA-8YTCuMbogmHa2zbEaujd5wB2Mzrr7Ic/w400-h400/norm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>One of the first steps is to recognize that the modern idea of "normal" is a fraud whose origins lie in statistical methods that are used to create and then justify categories and ranks. Further, “disorders” are often the result of differences in development or structures, or normal reactions to events (e.g, ASD, PTSD). See Jonathan Mooney, <i>Normal Sucks</i> (New York: Holt, 2019). <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/06/just-setting-on-dryer.html">http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/06/just-setting-on-dryer.html</a></li><li>Universal Design is a movement emphasizing the benefits for everyone from accessible design—e.g., ramps and power doors benefit people pushing strollers or delivering packages. (<a href="https://universaldesign.ie">https://universaldesign.ie</a>/). This also relieves the feeling of being singled out as "that" person who has to be accommodated.</li><li>Striving for justice needs to include accounting for opposition to the ADA from many churches, seeking equity so all can participate, and inclusion at all levels of organizations. </li></ul><div><i>The study uses a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xj9LLRwSRgNcEpDsXwRWhYrVwOcLAiQbloxLdmmFqwM/view" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">discussion guide</a> provided by the Christian Reformed Church Disability Concerns unit, and <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2022/08/sturmisch-bewegt.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">my review</a> after first reading the book.</i></div><div><br /></div><p></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-25310041786593935152022-11-17T12:31:00.000-05:002022-11-17T12:31:18.641-05:00A box for God <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Human
understanding often accepts received assumptions as something contained in a box.
Inside the box is truth that is beyond examination, and thus cannot be tamed or
controlled. “God” is a case in point. Moses tried this at a bush <a href="https://oboedire.wordpress.com/2022/08/14/along-the-way-no-name-god/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">and lost</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.
But he was not alone: years later John Wesley continued to ask if people would
limit God. C. S. Lewis explores such limits in his less-well-known <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30628.Space_Trilogy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Space Trilogy</a>, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">as a character states that "the laws of the
universe are never broken. Your mistake is to think that the little
regularities we have observed on one planet for a few hundred years are the
real unbreakable laws, whereas they are only the remote results which the true
laws bring about more often than not, as a kind of accident" (C. S. Lewis,
</span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">That Hideous Strength</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, in </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">The Space Trilogy</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, New York: QPBC, 1997,
710), again reaching outside the box. Thoughtful study with the brains God
gave us should lead to thinking about something too big to be one thing, and to
conversation and exploration rather than categories of control.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDPQgiycu3I4Qt3vgmXazhKY9XHivviEUboZi35OigtpHMJlvf65uLWcHnIAqnZa_vmKA_9s3DwnxS15UHsxsVjS0dulkcY_s5qEpqoxzKHH27LXTi-0X9TJmDfZeI-MQsqoVfneaqN4e_5UVXGkRoFNMUGhdILEUTdF3qv-HDxOkph_edhGeuidO/s293/510Tk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="book cover" border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="195" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDPQgiycu3I4Qt3vgmXazhKY9XHivviEUboZi35OigtpHMJlvf65uLWcHnIAqnZa_vmKA_9s3DwnxS15UHsxsVjS0dulkcY_s5qEpqoxzKHH27LXTi-0X9TJmDfZeI-MQsqoVfneaqN4e_5UVXGkRoFNMUGhdILEUTdF3qv-HDxOkph_edhGeuidO/w213-h320/510Tk.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Kristin
Swenson engages in this process in her recent <i>A Most Peculiar Book: the
Inherent Strangeness of the Bible</i> (Oxford University Press, 2021). A book
that contains “</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">lofty wisdom, inspiration,
comfort, and guidance” also contains “bewildering archaisms, inconsistencies,
questionable ethics, and a herky-jerky narrative style” that is often made
worse by similar tactics from translators. The crux of it all is that “God . .
. is simply far more complicated than these reductive efforts can sustain” and
“far too big to be just one thing” (xii-xv). And back to where we started, compounding
this is that much of what we think we know is a collection of received
assumptions, interpretations, traditions, music and other arts, and simplified
stories told to children (xvii).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Like Dietrich </span>Bonhoeffer's<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> “cheap grace” that makes religion a </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/423945-cheap-grace-means-grace-sold-on-the-market-like-cheapjacks" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank">market commodity</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> in keeping with much of </span><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/selling-god-9780195098389" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank">American culture</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,
Swenson refers to “cheap faith” that reflects this god-in-a-box attitude of a power to be controlled and manipulated, as Moses tried to do at the burning
bush. As a collection of books, authors, reflects cultures and
practices in languages that are quite different from today’s, the Bible still
invites us to explore as an act of faith </span><span style="font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">(36, 57, 101)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEOz272LGSACffmp8xiWJs30gHEru8tuVoaTmwM7sjJIhaegW842Ka3H0h3_slDuBf8aQxAy_URw_N21L1teXCvMd5tinnIMxlN4wG-nKvSZui9V6_CbgJ4SenRYl6J_UK4My4mSunnt5deaZqYCfNJSw4kg_4VZrU57KDy6eG5cSYOwOfkRFddpn-/s768/bible-context.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="I can do all things through a verse taken out of context" border="0" data-original-height="759" data-original-width="768" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEOz272LGSACffmp8xiWJs30gHEru8tuVoaTmwM7sjJIhaegW842Ka3H0h3_slDuBf8aQxAy_URw_N21L1teXCvMd5tinnIMxlN4wG-nKvSZui9V6_CbgJ4SenRYl6J_UK4My4mSunnt5deaZqYCfNJSw4kg_4VZrU57KDy6eG5cSYOwOfkRFddpn-/w320-h316/bible-context.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To get beyond this, a good
beginning is to approach the Bible and not assume that we know what it
says and let it speak to us. Doing this recognizes that the Bible is diverse,
and requires the use of all of our faculties in the same way we are to love God
(231). In doing that, we ought to rethink received traditions and
interpretations in light of new knowledge and experience. People with
disabilities will be familiar with this idea. The Bible repeatedly enjoins us
to fair and equal treatment, but in its pages we can also see the persistence
of outcasts created by stigma and discrimination. The old notions about disability still keep God
and all of us boxed away.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We might ask who the
outcasts are as well as how those people came to be outcasts. We might also ask
why a book that asks us to think of everyone as our neighbor has been taken by
some to allow—if not command—discrimination. The teaching of Jesus about
disabilities would be a good lesson. We see that he does not wipe out the old—rather,
he reminds us of what the Torah and Prophets mean without the accretions of
traditions from culture. Jesus repeatedly included people with disabilities in
his work, and went so far as to restore them to society. And he never sent them
a bill, told them to start a Go Fund Me, complained when their debts were
remitted, or sent them home hungry. The Zen-like and Moses-comprehending Jesus hasn’t
changed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This hit home after
reading a recent <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/community/lionel-migrino-deam-1.6605697" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CBC opinion article</a> about October’s disability employment
awareness month</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: a tale of being told someone can’t do a job, without even a cursory
evaluation. The medical model of something being wrong with the person, rather
than the limitations of facilities, results in pervasive ableism. This box of
ableism is compounded in churches by not considering what the Bible really
tells us and an unwillingness to confront cultural attitude. The <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/07/disability-pride-monthtoward-bottoms-up.html" target="_blank">truth will set us all free</a>, but we have to explore beyond the boundaries of the box of cheap
grace. That, again, is the kind of t</span><span style="font-size: 16px;">houghtful study using the brains God gave us, but it also requires conversation, <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/04/gospel-empowerment.html" target="_blank">not the imposition of control</a>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><i>Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from the Indianapolis Public Library, promising to return it within three weeks, which I did, even though they no longer threaten to fine late returns. In this I was aided and abetted by borrowing it as a Kindle book, which is automatically returned. They also kindly reminded me that by using my library card, I have saved over $700. </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><i> </i></o:p></span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-88751909087807359872022-08-17T12:27:00.000-04:002022-08-17T12:27:19.237-04:00Stürmisch bewegt<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Recently, disabled
people and advocates have been speaking about another “ism” that diminishes
people—ableism. As I have joined with others <a href="https://umcdmc.org/resources/christian-education/theology/" target="_blank">in explaining, </a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://umcdmc.org/resources/christian-education/theology/" target="_blank">ableism</a> makes false assumptions about disability and leads to
discrimination and exclusion. So I am pleased to join the Psalmist and be glad to enter this
house of the Lord and share some thoughts about reading a new book:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Kenny, Amy. My Body Is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, a
division of Baker Publishing Group, [2022].</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ToUHdpUZI7njmDhs7CPpQw38XP6hrvtfMRU4Jxq-9ILkl0LIyeogj6dgfX4m864bioDwPJHrwK0aweqjdhhPRhlafqM6wttosy8fhySO4Bz6nwK-uUYSjrXmHvyoknarjuOPR4hRRhbK7BtwiT49wbGhTPii-SSez9RV6AcVW_6eh6RIGG8yPS0o/s500/Amy-Kenny-boko.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="book cover" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ToUHdpUZI7njmDhs7CPpQw38XP6hrvtfMRU4Jxq-9ILkl0LIyeogj6dgfX4m864bioDwPJHrwK0aweqjdhhPRhlafqM6wttosy8fhySO4Bz6nwK-uUYSjrXmHvyoknarjuOPR4hRRhbK7BtwiT49wbGhTPii-SSez9RV6AcVW_6eh6RIGG8yPS0o/w207-h320/Amy-Kenny-boko.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>Gustav Mahler described
the final movement of his first symphony as <a href="https://mahlerfoundation.org/mahler/listening-guide/listening-guide-movement-4-sturmisch-bewegt/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the cry of a wounded heart</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. This book is a similar cry—more than once, Kenny states that she is
screaming. The stormy dissonance of the opening of the movement is reflected in
Kenny’s first page as she tells of an encounter: “God told me to pray for you .
. . . God wants to heal you.” Like Kenny, many of us have been there as the
ultimate ableism loads presumption upon presumption and tops it with a divine
imperative.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">These early chapters are
hard, because the scream story continues with more recitations that will be
familiar to many people with disabilities. Like much <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-caste-for-casts.html" target="_blank">racism</a></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">, ableism lurks in structures beneath the
surface, formed on a foundation that we often overlook. Accommodations are
considered an add-on, a patch to the structure, not an essential of design.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The implied statement of
ableism is that something must be fixed, that people with disabilities are not whole, and that our
faith is lacking. This leads the author to state that the real need is to be freed
from ableism. In the same process as outlined by <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2022/07/more-usual-suspects.html" target="_blank">Beth Allison Barr</a>, where cultural notions create faulty theology, we see a chain of thought: disability makes people uncomfortable, leading far too many to presume
sin lies behind it, with the result that scripture is twisted to fit presumptions while overlooking the passages that don’t
fit those cultural notions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Culture teaches us that
people are valued for their productivity, and disabled people are not
productive (and if they are, they require costly accommodations and extra
time). We are “ministered to” instead of “with,” reinforcing a segregated
second-class status, and silenced from instructing others. When the ADA was
adopted, some churches strongly opposed it, and many are still not compliant or
accessible (or when they are, clumsily so). It’s a sign that disabled people
are not considered fully human, which both picks up from and contributes to
eugenics.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What to do then? After
Mahler’s cry of wounded despair, hope emerges in themes of contemplation that
transform the despair. Kenny finds hope in disabled people who, among all
others, can best grasp that Jesus shows the way to transformation. His call to </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 12pt;">μετανοια</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> has urgency. Although generally translated “repent,”
which has become a religious buzzword with no more meaning than <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/04/gospel-empowerment.html " target="_blank">empowerment</a> or some of the other <a href="http://www.andrewdavidson.com/gibberish/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">corporate gibberish</a> that has infested our language, its call is to renew the mind, to
transform our ways. Instead of the medical model of fixing things, she asks us
to embrace disability and use that model in interpreting Scripture. In this light, the healing
narratives are not about cure and eradication, but restoration and
acceptance. Old stories gain new life: Jacob is changed from a schemer to a
forgiving Israel with a limp.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In these and many other
examples, we come to understand interdependence in a renewed and transformed society.
Accessibility becomes the beginning point, not a destination or a checklist. All
of creation is good; and our eschatology is also transformed: Micah says that
God will gather the lame and those who have been driven away.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Mahler is a “heavy”
composer of deep themes and subjects, but he has his own kind of wit if one
will hear. So does Kenny—and it is copious, and often directed at the medical
model. Referring to cayenne pepper ointments, she writes that they only made
her hunger for a vindaloo curry; or that despite x-rays and radioactive
injections, she never gained superhero powers as Marvel stories might lead one
to believe. Turning her sights to the Bible, she states that the description in
Daniel 7.9 sounds like “a wheelchair to me, and one that gives new meaning to
burning rubber.” Ezekiel 1.15-21 describes God with a massive mobility device
that is lifted by four angels with fused legs and colossal wheels that encase
wheels that glisten like topaz. If God uses a fiery, shimmering, turquoise
wheelchair why shouldn’t we?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ableism, with its
cultural roots, is often selective. In one example, she asks if people with
eyeglasses have been targeted for prayers of cure. John Calvin even attributed
their design to science and learning as <a href="https://www.flyingkittymonster.net/tim/307.html" target="_blank">a gift of God that correct natural changes</a>, while
leaving other devices (such as mobility aids) to the realm of differences resulting
from the corruption of sin. (Selective ableism note: of course, he needed
glasses for himself. There’s an interesting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpuDiRvgYMU&list=PLsEC1Ibf-WujATmwIMNc6C_-qab7SY1y-&index=9" target="_blank">YouTube video</a> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">exploring this idea). Why can’t these other adaptive devices become
mainstream, and even display a little fashion? But then, as Kenny writes, it is
human-made stuff that is orderly (especially for lawyers-turned-theologians),
while God’s canvas of creation is wild, unruly, and exquisitely messy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the end, Mahler finds
a sort of peace. It is somewhat defiant, especially near the end, as he directs
the horn players to stand and point their bells outward. He later went on to
write several more symphonies, each of which explores an aspect of
transformation, of finding peace, of living with meaning in an exquisitely
messy world. I look forward in hope that Kenny will also grace us with more of
her thoughts and findings as well.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i>Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from the Indianapolis Public Library, once again to the consternation of someone, I'm sure. The only stipulation was to return it within three weeks, which I did. </i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-64111113301294959182022-07-21T10:18:00.001-04:002022-07-21T10:18:36.534-04:00More Usual Suspects <p></p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A review and disability-oriented response to Beth Allison Barr, <i>The Making of Biblical Womanhood:
How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth</i>. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press,
2021.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">At the start of a
graduate school class titled “The History of Christian Doctrine,” the professor
apologized for the title, saying that “doctrine” probably sounded dull. The
class wasn’t, thanks to his guidance, but it’s a reminder that whether we like
it, whether we find it exciting or dull, history is there, whether we like it or not,
especially when it’s <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-valkyrie-rides-on-michigan-road.html" target="_blank">full of surprises that we’d prefer to forget</a>. And as this book’s historical survey of a
theological topic progresses, we find out that there is much that’s been
forgotten, thereby tilting the view that many have of this history.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvJ-h7zv4dl9kme4hsdHnfWIsUsi_hX-KfQWrgGU1C6Qe_PQ_Y18CB2_3CQSS55dADY_rklq6v7fdNpBd6WmQxXjQviaKTzXt3Mxus0bQLPfOfHXalAX9u82LjgNQRkoEhrAywCXmTcK69cl01T0Dlbz5TTDC4Q6-z9Ydsg4pVEuzp_ZVAg7B9BuK/s482/Picture1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Text box, in the beginning, God said, followed by mathematical equations, ... and there was light!" border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="477" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvJ-h7zv4dl9kme4hsdHnfWIsUsi_hX-KfQWrgGU1C6Qe_PQ_Y18CB2_3CQSS55dADY_rklq6v7fdNpBd6WmQxXjQviaKTzXt3Mxus0bQLPfOfHXalAX9u82LjgNQRkoEhrAywCXmTcK69cl01T0Dlbz5TTDC4Q6-z9Ydsg4pVEuzp_ZVAg7B9BuK/w396-h400/Picture1.jpg" width="396" /></a></div>As I would tell my
history class, let’s begin at the beginning: the origins of patriarchy. Barr starts
with the story of a church that refused to hire a man as church secretary. He
was in need of employment and had the desired skills. The reasoning had nothing
to do with ability and everything to do with the idea that a man was above such
work. <br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Behind this “reasoning”
is a cultural history: as agriculture emerged, so did structured communities,
along with designations of rank and status, marking some people as more
worthy—whether of authority, certain kinds of work, or other elements of social
identity. As cultures develop, such notions often are conflated with religious
belief, and over time, become a hermeneutical standard, a move over time that is generally with the loss
of their origins. Generations of students, including myself, have written about
<a href="https://www.flyingkittymonster.net/tim/301.html" target="_blank">the <i>imago Dei</i> and social structure</a> and now Barr joins us, noting that patriarchy was a result of
human sin. It exists, but is not God’s desire. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A careful reading will
reveal that many biblical passages and stories undermine, rather than support,
patriarchy. The Torah has many provisions for an inclusive society, one that
doesn’t promote rank and status. And then there’s Paul—a survey of history
shows that in the early and medieval church, his writings were hardly ever
used to support the status quo. Paul was writing to teach early Christians to live
counter-culturally in their Roman world, and how to resist the patriarchy of
the day. (With serendipity in “full” mode, the <a href="https://alban.org/2022/07/18/leaders-create-culture/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Alban newsletter of July 18,2022</a> notes, “In Scripture, we can see the
connection between behavior and culture when we reflect on the Apostle Paul’s
comments . . . . a transformative vision for a Christ-centered culture by advocating
for new ways of behaving within the Christian community.”)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Abetting our assumptions
about patriarchy are vagaries of translation. Few people read the preface to
translations. If one did, they would learn that King James sought to support
male, royal authority—and many recent translations refer to maintaining that
tradition. Many modern Christians thus hear in Paul a masculine authority, such
as wives should “be subject.” Paul’s original audience would have heard a
command to love as Christ did, to efface the self, and not to regard the family
as a vehicle for personal gain. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Compounding these
assumptions, we are reminded that translation is not a science and not literal.
So readers often lose track of who is speaking and who is addressed. Moreover,
the letters we have are one side of a chain of correspondence. Paul is often addressing
what was happening (i.e., “women be silent”) and reacting in disbelief
(“What!”) to offer correction. As Barr points out, Paul had reason to challenge
such accretions: “In a world that didn’t accept the word of a woman as a valid
witness, Jesus chose women as witnesses for his resurrection” (87). It should
also be noted that Paul describes himself as a mother, much as Jesus did, and
mentions women prominently among the leaders of churches.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Many translations have also wreaked havoc on gender. Inclusive readers are hardly a recent invention: in the first chapter of Genesis, a human (inclusive gender) is created, </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="RTL" lang="HE">אדם</span></span> (<i>'adam</i>). This was rendered in the Vulgate as <i>homo/hominem</i> (an inclusive gender term) and then as <i>man </i>in English. At that time, <a href="https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/08/the-word-man-was-originally-gender-neutral/" target="_blank">"man" was gender inclusive</a>, but over time, it was often taken to apply to males only. <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">M. I should probably not venture into the hopefully unintentional
hypocrisy of those who tell us that “man” is inclusive but then act as if it’s
“male” only. An example of this is 1 Timothy 3:1–13, where the Greek uses
non-gender-specific terms, but many English translations use a series of
male-specific pronouns—none of which are in the Greek text. </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirUNziJiZooTSk6QM5kSTabNU5KuYGulNwIUlnCyqDC1T1rg8-e5suMNF0lyad7Q7bu_-YBpJofmY8ZMh7OYoKOMs-uj-WaBZ3r_xVUJytBb2tFU2IKZAa6N5J5SQSJFhY0SmVb1EjFhYycVaD03kS5RzMJP3rizvrfJJT_KGeg555XZPXyVxIBCvG/s600/30898023513.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="book cover, a repeated series of an image of a woman's head, bowed" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="388" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirUNziJiZooTSk6QM5kSTabNU5KuYGulNwIUlnCyqDC1T1rg8-e5suMNF0lyad7Q7bu_-YBpJofmY8ZMh7OYoKOMs-uj-WaBZ3r_xVUJytBb2tFU2IKZAa6N5J5SQSJFhY0SmVb1EjFhYycVaD03kS5RzMJP3rizvrfJJT_KGeg555XZPXyVxIBCvG/w207-h320/30898023513.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Aside from the gender
concerns raised in this book, I am (unsurprisingly) interested in the parallels
to the argument that prevailing views are accepted as cultural foundations, and
in turn used to justify theological positions. This is part of what lies behind
<a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-theology-of-diversity.html " target="_blank">Theodore Hiebert’s</a> </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="background: #FFF9EE; color: #222222;">ideas that we have
misunderstood God’s diversity due to mistranslation and cultural assumptions. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In the realm of disability, we have a Gospel example:
in John 9, Jesus converses with a blind man, treating him as a real person, and
then tells those around that their notion that disability is the result of sin
is all wrong. The extension of this story also illustrates why we need a social
model of disability: the leaders refuse to acknowledge that the man is whole,
and prefer to argue with his parents than to hear the man himself. (This does
not exhaust the material available in this direction). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In a similar approach,
<a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2022/06/still-marked.html" target="_blank">Jenifer Barclay’s </a><i><a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2022/06/still-marked.html" target="_blank">The Mark of Slavery</a> </i><span class="MsoHyperlink"></span>
argues that the legacy of slavery created much of the modern language of
disability and influenced theological views which have survived even though
slavery has not (at least legally). As our industrial-technical age has
emphasized reading and similar technical competencies, society has singled out
conditions such as dyslexia and some neurodiversity in a way that previous ages
did not. This parallels a change of reading the </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">λογος</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> (<i>logos</i>) of John as “The Word” to be understood and
given a fixed, specific understanding, one that departs from the <a href="https://logeion.uchicago.edu/%CE%BB%CF%8C%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%82" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">classical idea</a>
of principle, grounds, reasoning, and patterns.
In the process Barclay follows, these become stigmatized as disabilities rather
than different approaches or understandings, and we lose much of the richness
of the Gospel stories.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I also remember a remark
from one person that in many ways, the oldest human disability is being female.
It’s hardly surprising, then, that this book is needed--and that there is one more
matter to address. In closing, Barr writes about the 1995 movie “The Usual
Suspects,” which, near its end, has the line “The greatest trick the devil ever
pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” She begs to disagree, saying
that the greatest trick was convincing Christians that oppression is godly
(172). As Matthew 23.27 reminds us, the harshest words of Jesus were to
self-appointed guardians of privilege and rank, of systems that give some
people power over others. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from the Indianapolis Public Library, once again pushing some generously-compensated CEO toward having to consider whether he will have to cancel a subscription to heated car seats or something similar. A nice feature of electronic borrowing for people like me is that the book is returned automatically at the end of the lending period. </i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><i> </i> <br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p> <br /><p></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-70361268666441319752022-06-10T14:04:00.000-04:002022-06-10T14:04:17.504-04:00Still marked<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;">Still marked: a review and response to Jenifer L. <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Barclay, <i>The Mark of Slavery: Disability,
Race, and Gender in Antebellum America</i>. Urbana: University of Illinois Press,
2021.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In 1857, a writer praised
the <i>New York Daily Times </i>for teaching “coldly and calmly” the
“indubitable fact” of white supremacy. As his opinion letter continued, he noted
the need for “wardship” of those incapable of self-government, which included
infants, disabled people, and people of color (J. Buford, “A Southerner’s
Opinion of the New York Day Book,” <i>New York Daily Times</i>, 26 January
1857, 14). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The “indubitable fact” and its reach
is a reminder of Douglas Baynton’s observation that, as a culture of “normal” was taking root, one response that might be heard was that one was not
disabled and therefore ought not to be the object of discrimination—but not to
challenge allowing discrimination.* At a time when many social institutions
and assumptions were under scrutiny, various standards were emerging, with results
that are still with us. Among these were supposedly Christian notions of sin as
a contributor to difference. Although starting to give way to developing
science and <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/06/just-setting-on-dryer.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">concepts of what was “normal,</a>” prevailing notions held back from a clean break: judgments continued
a long-standing practice of ascribing various aspects of disabling conditions
to unrelated occurrences and then used them to justify oppression and
inequality. In turn, such uses contributed to notions of disability as
defective or abnormal instead of aspects of diversity. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Economics is the first
topic covered. The author shows how disability has led to a presumption of lack of economic
value. Under slavery, with its poor working and living conditions, accidents,
and disease, an image of uselessness therefore became associated with
disability. This idea returned in Nazi Germany to justify the murder of
disabled people.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO5mY0vnopxLQAzgh0SR10X_8WZ10_M03jmn9rkh1UxW6aoNn0KVfknPA4PBRCZLVBPFoNl-l-smL27d4nFFIPvNjvHqwvfAyqhu3exHxTE9ZXGqPcMiyjNhnf7NBE2GRNBh8T9I1vk8w7tY_0lGORrs5A6yZMuyKa2KCKbNmvuUGpUs7-mDLpLXO7/s550/zrR7AM4gVuICjFAeEUZDXzJ_PreYeDzgyXc4zLQZ88U.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="poster from 1930s Neues Volk, “This genetically ill person will cost our people’s community 60,000 marks over his lifetime. Citizens, that is your money." border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="431" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO5mY0vnopxLQAzgh0SR10X_8WZ10_M03jmn9rkh1UxW6aoNn0KVfknPA4PBRCZLVBPFoNl-l-smL27d4nFFIPvNjvHqwvfAyqhu3exHxTE9ZXGqPcMiyjNhnf7NBE2GRNBh8T9I1vk8w7tY_0lGORrs5A6yZMuyKa2KCKbNmvuUGpUs7-mDLpLXO7/w314-h400/zrR7AM4gVuICjFAeEUZDXzJ_PreYeDzgyXc4zLQZ88U.jpg" title="https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/posters2.htm" width="314" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The next topic is medical
advances, some of which led to what we now refer to as the medical model of
disability, one which views differences as errors or imperfections to be
corrected. The people involved were viewed as feeble objects of charity (have
you seen a commercial or telethon lately that portrayed disabled people like
this?), and provided ground for the view of slavery as a paternalistic
“positive good” that took care of those unable to rise higher.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">If you have seen one of
those commercials or telethons, have you also seen presentations about how
inspiring someone is because they have overcome the obstacles placed in their
way by an ableist society? Also known as “inspiration porn,” such coverage is an
almost-oppose to the portrayals of uselessness and pity, but they are just as
dangerous. Rarely are the social and physical roadblocks noticed when praising
someone for “overcoming” their disability.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In many settings, these
attitudes of uselessness lead to subversion: slaves and disabled people gather unnoticed
and largely unmonitored, engage in various kinds of aid, whether practical
or creating a sense of stability and social togetherness in a liminal setting. St.
Paul’s paradox of strength in weakness became a recasting of weakness as
strength, transforming the classical trickster of myth into a powerful person with
qualities of great spiritual strength. Disability is capable of being subversive
when it gains attention. However, it’s generally minimized or shut out. Ever
wonder why?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Thus arises the author’s
point that one failure of abolitionists who crusaded against slavery was not
severing the link of racism and ableism behind social hierarchies (150). In an
example of the “law of unintended consequences,” these anti-slavery arguments
used ableist language to reinforce the need for perceived benevolent guidance, and
outsider-directed care. This continued with speech about a deformed nation that
reinforced a stigma of disability, and as noted, contributed to inspiration
porn and obstacles today. Sympathy and derision went together to minimize and
marginalize anyone who was different. Aided by the then-new art of photography,
freak and minstrel shows worked with photographs of slave treatment to create sympathy
without empathy or improvement for those in need. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Disability is also a
“marker of hierarchical relations”— just as slavery, forged in distinctly
racialized ways throughout the antebellum years—shaped and defined power
dynamics. But what persists is not an end to hierarchies, but new paths of
control. Disability continues to provide images and symbols of such control—a
person perceived as successful has traits associated with bodily ability and
seeks to reinforce such stereotypes. People whose bodies or minds do not match
the standard are judged as unable, unintelligent, and irrational. They are shut
out of inaccessible locations, forgotten when podcasts are not captioned,
overlooked when their minds take a different approach, and only grudgingly
granted an occasional presumption of competence. Still subversive, still a
threat. Still marked. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_dWBSmm0J_WlrOiO0cWCuQdSmXZmUMTnbrrmH8A22gkmwzuiKH-WPqKgHX4rtlh2g4k8l73D81-QCfKNKWpJuPHlahMkHXDD9DBO7dhhKFomGMa1mv-SuBQw5a7kogqV26xn1jtc9iiJ3JFAdmRzdtMXpzF9CRLTmk6f-4_irSuWD9uH35EiV4AsU/s765/9780252085703_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="book cover" border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_dWBSmm0J_WlrOiO0cWCuQdSmXZmUMTnbrrmH8A22gkmwzuiKH-WPqKgHX4rtlh2g4k8l73D81-QCfKNKWpJuPHlahMkHXDD9DBO7dhhKFomGMa1mv-SuBQw5a7kogqV26xn1jtc9iiJ3JFAdmRzdtMXpzF9CRLTmk6f-4_irSuWD9uH35EiV4AsU/w261-h400/9780252085703_lg.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">* Douglas C. Baynton,
“Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History” in Paul K.
Longmore and Lauri Umansky, <i>The New Disability History: American
Perspectives </i>(New York: New York University press, 2001) <br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Disclaimer: I borrowed
this book from the Indianapolis Public Library, promising to return it within
three weeks, which I did, even though they no longer threaten to fine late
returns. In this I was aided and abetted by borrowing it as a Kindle book, which is
automatically returned.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-76087618585928354672022-04-19T10:41:00.004-04:002022-04-19T10:41:52.660-04:00The New Miracles <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"> The New Miracles: a response to Katie Booth, <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power, and
Alexander Graham Bell’s Quest to End Deafness</span></span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> (New York: Simon
& Schuster, 2021)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Classical tragedies
revolve around a plot line of a character who acts out of a perceived noble
intent. However, the character overlooks a flaw in that intent, and that flaw ultimately
brings the character down. There’s a way in which this is true of Alexander
(Alec) Bell, the inventor of the telephone. Bell sought to make communication
easier—but in the process, overlooked that he sought to quash a culture. His
efforts to promote oralism and bring an end to the use of sign language, and
his promotion of early eugenics, have left a legacy that Deaf people still
contend with, even though the end result has been to open new channels of
communication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Booth explores this complex
legacy as she opens the book with a story about her Deaf grandmother being in a
hospital. Whenever grandmother sought to sign with someone, “she was treated as
a bother,” and the staff would only respond to Booth or her mother’s spoken
requests (3). Some discussion of law corrected parts of that problem, but it
led to reflection on her grade school history classes, where she learned that Bell
invented the telephone. This seemed “as absurd as introducing Adolf Hitler as a
vegetarian who once ruled over Germany” (12). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDsNKQiYAeLwZRLOpdjxFg0ixHSNXB8A6ECF71SPKPYcUylrHOtZNWIDjMu27W7vIIMzCmUUfS32mMi7X75LgPy9uJD9_e-Xv6PHRhCT6LaJYQKPlwVH4eCv_Ri0lSrBltSG1YksVItsK7R_jt3k8dPT5MZyPNaxX_qyRJ_rtcUGn21M-7QyBUHG9Y/s400/B72294CF6D0A0D0079AFC153ABE77F1DD1807DC0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="cover of the book, a portrait of Bell" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="263" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDsNKQiYAeLwZRLOpdjxFg0ixHSNXB8A6ECF71SPKPYcUylrHOtZNWIDjMu27W7vIIMzCmUUfS32mMi7X75LgPy9uJD9_e-Xv6PHRhCT6LaJYQKPlwVH4eCv_Ri0lSrBltSG1YksVItsK7R_jt3k8dPT5MZyPNaxX_qyRJ_rtcUGn21M-7QyBUHG9Y/w263-h400/B72294CF6D0A0D0079AFC153ABE77F1DD1807DC0.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Pursuing a more complete
story, Bell’s work began with his father, who sought to devise a universal
alphabet for missionaries. Using this, they could read the Bible aloud in any
language, even they didn’t understand it. (We’ll save the theological
discussion of this notion for another post). Believing that speech was what
made one human, it followed that any sentient being needed to learn to
speak—with a voice, not with signs. Despite abundant examples, which included
his own mother, Bell stuck with that notion, which led to the idea that being
Deaf was a burden, a marker of an unacceptable difference, and something to be
eliminated through training and marriage restrictions. </span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Bell lived in a time of
change: industrialization was creating systems <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/06/" target="_blank">emphasizing and transforming “normal” from mathematics to identity</a> and proclaimed
them as the path to a new age through eugenics. “Freak” became the umbrella
term for racial, ethnic, developmental, gender, and physical differences. The
tragic flaw enters: there is little indication that Bell was insensitive to
suffering and inequality. Booth recounts several instances where he was
distressed by racial discrimination. But, in a move that we all might be forced
to confess, he did not recognize his own involvement in “a larger struggle
between normalcy and difference, between saving and being saved, between
empowerment and charity” (77), thus setting the stage for the tragic
character’s downfall. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">John Wesley was an
admirer of the classics and early church fathers who struggled with these
concerns. Today’s “nothing about us, without us” was not yet a motto, but
concerns that those on the margins should be heard are clear from his writings.
He famously “consented to be more vile” – to change his ways in seeking
inclusion. Sadly, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bell followed the
thinking of many in his time who saw defects as something to be eliminated
rather than embrace more social models and accommodation. Today the struggle
continues: do people who are different have “special needs” or functional
requirements? Are they included in leadership, or are they a target group (ministry
<i>with</i> or ministry <i>to</i>)? Is a difference a weakness to be hidden? As
the author notes, does empowerment come through assimilation or recognizing and
honoring diversity? We still struggle, which is why the classics are still with
us. The new miracle, as <a href="https://www.flyingkittymonster.net/tim/303.html" target="_blank">Teilhard de Chardin</a> wrote, will come when we harness
the energy of love, the love that was central to Wesley. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Normal abnormal disclaimer:
much to the chagrin of various greedy corporations, I borrowed this book from
the Indianapolis Public Library, and even though they no longer charge late
fines, I did return it on time.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-52138635468932498042022-01-19T09:59:00.000-05:002022-01-19T09:59:10.325-05:00Beep! <p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bonnie Sherr Klein, <i>Beep Beep Bubbie </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(illustrated
by </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Élisabeth Eudes-Pascal</span><span style="font-style: normal;">),</span></span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Vancouver:
Tradewind Books, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">2020 (</span>ISBN
978192689023)
</span></span></p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Am
I reverting to childhood? After enjoying </span><i><a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/11/doorkins-book.html" target="_blank">Doorkins the Cathedral Cat</a></i><i>, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">now I’m reading </span><span style="font-style: normal;">another
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">children's</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">book and enjoying it, too.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">But then, in Matthew 18, we
are told that </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Jesus of
Nazareth </span><span style="font-style: normal;">said we should be
like </span><span style="font-style: normal;">children. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Full
beep ahead!</span></span></span><span style="font-family: times;"></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">It’s
a charming story. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">B</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ubbie
is the grandmother of two siblings, Kate and Nate. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">She
arrives for a visit on a n</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ew
scooter that beeps a lot. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">The
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">group rides away </span><span style="font-style: normal;">on
the bus </span><span style="font-style: normal;">to a market. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Here
they </span><span style="font-style: normal;">have a great time </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(told
in story and art). </span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: times;"></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjb-DLy9B7zSLwUIRDqysL2C6tcqC2qc7rjS5hE8eVQTEKGRCjZOHZata3vOGY2IGLVZQcGbQaD_3CmZXYlx48WVEZUpbtawzkGFquzo_STBIJicTBD8-AVkJmenmf_YRy8perT9HErVD9_fWDCPg9suye4-MiqXH1lROWPudPOC_mL2AM9Tn0GKvuS=s1333" imageanchor="1"><img alt="cover: a woman riding a scooter, pulling a kite in the air, along a lake" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1333" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjb-DLy9B7zSLwUIRDqysL2C6tcqC2qc7rjS5hE8eVQTEKGRCjZOHZata3vOGY2IGLVZQcGbQaD_3CmZXYlx48WVEZUpbtawzkGFquzo_STBIJicTBD8-AVkJmenmf_YRy8perT9HErVD9_fWDCPg9suye4-MiqXH1lROWPudPOC_mL2AM9Tn0GKvuS=w400-h360" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span>
<p></p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Along
the way, there’s a lot to think about. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">The
children </span><span style="font-style: normal;">face </span><span style="font-style: normal;">their
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">fear</span><span style="font-style: normal;">s
and deal with them. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">At first,
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">Kate is afraid that Bubbie
has changed </span><span style="font-style: normal;">by using the
scooter</span><span style="font-style: normal;">. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">But
as the story proceeds, Kate </span><span style="font-style: normal;">learns
that the scooter, like all mobility devices, is a helpful tool. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">The
person using it is still the same beloved character. </span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: times;"></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
children also learn some history. Bubbie tells them that </span><span style="font-style: normal;">“l</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ong
ago, people who had trouble walking were stuck indoors” </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(</span><span style="font-style: normal;">6</span><span style="font-style: normal;">).
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">Although the pandemic has
interfered </span><span style="font-style: normal;">recently</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
people with disabilities are no longer expected to stay at home and
hide. Even the “ugly laws” and many other ableist restrictions
have been repealed or removed—although anyone who tries to scoot or
wheel around most areas will find that </span><span style="font-style: normal;">a
lot of infrastructure problems remain. </span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: times;"></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">For
one infrastructure concern, there’s riding the bus, with all of its
steps. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">No problem, the
children learn, as the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">bus
has a ramp. Some of us </span><span style="font-style: normal;">who’ve
had a lot of public transit experience </span><span style="font-style: normal;">will
be happy to learn that the ramp works and the operator knows how to
use it. When the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">group</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
get</span><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
on the bus, some </span><span style="font-style: normal;">some people
complain that they have to move to clear the access space. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">Remarkable, isn’t it, that
we also have to clear able-bodied parkers and whatnot out of accessible parking
spaces. </span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: times;"></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_0Y5apxu1LhThvB-syXrv8N2nWpa9m_i5cggPgX1dtjRNyIicLkuRMdWgSzEqZvcfhmA4p4uqRNDbyMRT6o12g7AjaG_ORHeI9q0wTML5VDAG-qeQz5cXK8TRXOwfFxN_Kc7JJWBX9p3cm9VDlTrtJ7UPqRrLVz0REqgMGAKY2ioFr40zv91zkRTB=s3000" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="accessible space blocked by snow plowing" border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="3000" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_0Y5apxu1LhThvB-syXrv8N2nWpa9m_i5cggPgX1dtjRNyIicLkuRMdWgSzEqZvcfhmA4p4uqRNDbyMRT6o12g7AjaG_ORHeI9q0wTML5VDAG-qeQz5cXK8TRXOwfFxN_Kc7JJWBX9p3cm9VDlTrtJ7UPqRrLVz0REqgMGAKY2ioFr40zv91zkRTB=w400-h200" title="Tim Vermande 12/2012" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">blocked accessible space<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">At
the park, other children are shown using wheelchairs, and the text
states that they make friends. After playing and enjoying the market,
they return, where there’s another history lesson. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">At
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">home, Kate starts reading and
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">l</span><span style="font-style: normal;">earn</span><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
about </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Frances Willard, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">who
named her bicycle Gladys. In a sign of acceptance, she </span><span style="font-style: normal;">asks
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">if they can name the scooter
Gladys </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and decorate it</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: times;"></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">In
the end, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">this is a wonderful</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
story about learning, one that points out many dimensions of
disability and the effects of accessibility. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Go
Gladys!--</span><span style="font-style: normal;">and </span><span style="font-style: normal;">the
next time someone asks if I want a bicycle horn for my wheelchair, I
may say yes. </span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: times;"></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Disclaimer:
I was provided with an electronic copy of the book in response to a
call for reviews on the Disability Studies in Humanities group.
</span></i></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">
</span></i></span><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-17746384058161565302021-12-30T13:05:00.017-05:002022-01-11T10:52:10.825-05:00Opening prospects<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 208.048px; transform: scaleX(1.20637);">Lana Portolano. </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 199.629px; top: 208.048px; transform: scaleX(1.12341);"><i>Be Opened!: The Catholic Church and Deaf Culture</i>. </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 552.211px; top: 208.048px; transform: scaleX(1.1207);">Washington, DC: Catholic University </span>of America Press, 2021. 336 pp. $33.66, paper, ISBN 978-0-8132-3339-0.</span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 108.031px; top: 409.813px; transform: scaleX(1.17468);">The author describes this book as a Deaf pil</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 431.431px; transform: scaleX(1.18523);">grimage: a hearing person’s overview of history, </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 453.048px; transform: scaleX(1.17707);">Catholic Deaf culture, and language. Her interest </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 474.666px; transform: scaleX(1.15497);">was sparked by adoption of a Deaf child. In a par</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 496.284px; transform: scaleX(1.16648);">allel of the path of many parents of children with </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 517.901px; transform: scaleX(1.16492);">any disability, her entrance into Deaf culture was </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 539.519px; transform: scaleX(1.15835);">without any background, personal experience, or </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 561.137px; transform: scaleX(1.18567);">guidance. To her credit, rather than assume that </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 582.754px; transform: scaleX(1.22791);">she knew the child’s needs, she pursued an in</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 604.372px; transform: scaleX(1.12786);">formed path and then shared it with us.</span></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 604.372px; transform: scaleX(1.12786);"></span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 108.031px; top: 631.394px; transform: scaleX(1.15236);">The title is drawn from a pericope in the Gos</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 653.012px; transform: scaleX(1.14598);">pel of Mark, where Jesus cures a Deaf man by say</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 674.629px; transform: scaleX(1.12419);">ing, “Be opened!” These words become a recurring </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 696.247px; transform: scaleX(1.18181);">theme in the book, a point of both critique and a </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 717.864px; transform: scaleX(1.16827);">prospect of hope. Portolano notes in opening the </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 739.482px; transform: scaleX(1.13331);">topic that the baptismal ritual once stated that the </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 761.1px; transform: scaleX(1.17676);">purpose of the sacrament is to touch the candid</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 782.717px; transform: scaleX(1.17581);">ate’s ears so as to receive the divine word. When </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 804.335px; transform: scaleX(1.24746);">applied to the Deaf, this reflects an attitude of </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 825.953px; transform: scaleX(1.18311);">ableism, in common with many religious uses of </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 847.57px; transform: scaleX(1.13957);">disability metaphors. It also reflects attitudes that </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 869.188px; transform: scaleX(1.15492);">the condition requires medical or other interven</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 890.806px; transform: scaleX(1.16081);">tion, rather than being a social difference that re</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 912.423px; transform: scaleX(1.15384);">quires cultural adjustment. The need for such ad</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 934.041px; transform: scaleX(1.16783);">justment becomes, throughout the book, a call to </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 955.659px; transform: scaleX(1.14946);">the church and other social institutions to change </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 977.276px; transform: scaleX(1.13101);">their ways.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwBc4V8TkBLzRibrhm7PHYmePytdH2aI9uW6p6mAaVxaoeOyKBEKM3GaFgvT-tphwwrAHK8VBW5Esp-gWPriWKml7Nx1Kqo1IJxah5gO8ehwv4569a6VyjHWYDc506B_gC44ct54NsSEFmtlm1-QGgoR9Gf1jzKJ2GZ7MBx3r997WoI1oQaxBoBVGC=s700"><img alt="cover of book, title with photo of a group standing and lifting hands" border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="466" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwBc4V8TkBLzRibrhm7PHYmePytdH2aI9uW6p6mAaVxaoeOyKBEKM3GaFgvT-tphwwrAHK8VBW5Esp-gWPriWKml7Nx1Kqo1IJxah5gO8ehwv4569a6VyjHWYDc506B_gC44ct54NsSEFmtlm1-QGgoR9Gf1jzKJ2GZ7MBx3r997WoI1oQaxBoBVGC=w213-h320" width="213" /></a></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 108.031px; top: 1004.3px; transform: scaleX(1.14669);">The book is divided into two parts: the first, a </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 1025.92px; transform: scaleX(1.20455);">chronological narrative that is primarily organ</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 409.813px; transform: scaleX(1.18635);">ized geographically, and a second that covers </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 431.431px; transform: scaleX(1.1868);">more recent events, concluding with future pro</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 453.048px; transform: scaleX(1.1967);">spects and needs. A central development in this </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 474.666px; transform: scaleX(1.1403);">history is the development and acceptance of sign </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 496.284px; transform: scaleX(1.16194);">languages, which in turn supports a Deaf culture. </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 517.901px; transform: scaleX(1.13437);">In turn, that acceptance becomes one aspect of re</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 539.519px; transform: scaleX(1.11757);">cognizing disability rights. It is also essential in the </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 561.137px; transform: scaleX(1.12392);">development of a friendlier theological stance.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 561.137px; transform: scaleX(1.12392);"></span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 483.335px; top: 588.159px; transform: scaleX(1.12243);">The nature of disability has been a long-stand</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 609.776px; transform: scaleX(1.1301);">ing religious issue. In the traditional medical mod</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 631.394px; transform: scaleX(1.22657);">el, it is considered a deviation from normal, an</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 653.012px; transform: scaleX(1.13229);">impairment that needs to be corrected. Theologic</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 674.629px; transform: scaleX(1.12748);">ally, these deviations have often been considered a </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 696.247px; transform: scaleX(1.23333);">recompense for sin. So it is not surprising that </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 717.864px; transform: scaleX(1.15295);">Deaf advocates have maintained that they are not </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 739.482px; transform: scaleX(1.16237);">disabled, but are a cultural minority. More recent </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 761.1px; transform: scaleX(1.14595);">social models cite deficiencies in attitudes and in</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 782.717px; transform: scaleX(1.21183);">frastructure, such as the lack of physical access </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 804.335px; transform: scaleX(1.12799);">(e.g., ramps, elevators) or, as is often the case here, </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 825.953px; transform: scaleX(1.1673);">the lack of captions or use of signed language. As </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 847.57px; transform: scaleX(1.17139);">this social model has gained ground, theologians </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 869.188px; transform: scaleX(1.13604);">have come to emphasize this approach as respect</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 890.806px; transform: scaleX(1.12615);">ing diversity in creation, not deficit.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 890.806px; transform: scaleX(1.12615);"></span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 483.335px; top: 917.828px; transform: scaleX(1.15167);">At some points, the chronological narrative is </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 939.445px; transform: scaleX(1.12738);">a challenge to follow across the geographical lines. </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 961.063px; transform: scaleX(1.13979);">However, there are common themes, one of which </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 982.681px; transform: scaleX(1.14936);">is sign languages. With a long history, they were a </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 1004.3px; transform: scaleX(1.17982);">tool that opened the door to Deaf education. But </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 1025.92px; transform: scaleX(1.14806);">they were also an oral tradition in an increasingly </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 96.9042px; transform: scaleX(1.21566);">text-oriented world, and thus much is lost. The </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 118.522px; transform: scaleX(1.14849);">main narrative begins with sixteenth-century </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 140.139px; transform: scaleX(1.24146);">Catholic schools. One will find familiar figures </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 161.757px; transform: scaleX(1.0931);">here, such as Laurent Clerc (1785-1869), who </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 183.375px; transform: scaleX(1.13977);">began his religious life in the Catholic Church, and </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 204.992px; transform: scaleX(1.14177);">many who are obscure. One will also be reminded </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 226.61px; transform: scaleX(1.13692);">of social and political differences. With Clerc as an </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 248.228px; transform: scaleX(1.23306);">example, after some early work in England, he </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 269.845px; transform: scaleX(1.16044);">met Thomas Gallaudet (1787-1851), who invited </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 291.463px; transform: scaleX(1.19674);">him to the United States where he established a </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 313.081px; transform: scaleX(1.20811);">nonreligious public school. The story of Roman </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 334.698px; transform: scaleX(1.13619);">Catholic developments is intertwined with others, </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 356.316px; transform: scaleX(1.13696);">particularly among Anglicans and Methodists, </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 377.934px; transform: scaleX(1.1627);">whose work often predated that of Catholics. An</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 399.551px; transform: scaleX(1.202);">other concern is that Deaf people are scattered, </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 421.169px; transform: scaleX(1.24692);">and only recently has technology been able to </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 442.787px; transform: scaleX(1.1345);">bridge this gap. Thus, in a manner similar to Black </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 464.404px; transform: scaleX(1.14443);">churches (as noted by Eileen Southern in </span><i><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 370.642px; top: 464.404px; transform: scaleX(1.10892);">The Mu</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 486.022px; transform: scaleX(1.13492);">sic of Black Americans</span></i><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 235.252px; top: 486.022px; transform: scaleX(1.08682);">, 1997), these institutions of</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 507.639px; transform: scaleX(1.14295);">ten became community bases for Deaf people and </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 529.257px; transform: scaleX(1.16856);">denominational boundaries were secondary. An</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 550.875px; transform: scaleX(1.18455);">other aspect is that in the United States, govern</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 572.492px; transform: scaleX(1.12316);">ment-funded schools became common by the mid-</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 594.11px; transform: scaleX(1.14917);">nineteenth century. Although nominally disestab</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 615.728px; transform: scaleX(1.16235);">lished, they often had strong Protestant leanings, </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 637.345px; transform: scaleX(1.12067);">obscuring the work of Catholics.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 637.345px; transform: scaleX(1.12067);"></span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 108.031px; top: 664.367px; transform: scaleX(1.19569);">Theological issues are also part of the story. </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 685.985px; transform: scaleX(1.14216);">The passage in Mark is the only place where Jesus </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 707.603px; transform: scaleX(1.1539);">communicates with a Deaf person, which he does </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 729.22px; transform: scaleX(1.15911);">by cure. Some take this as an instruction to reject </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 750.838px; transform: scaleX(1.13702);">sign language—but the author protests: they have </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 772.456px; transform: scaleX(1.13259);">not read the story carefully, as it implies the use of </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 794.073px; transform: scaleX(1.12785);">signs to summon the man from the crowd. A simil</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 815.691px; transform: scaleX(1.17483);">ar situation exists with statements such as “faith </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 837.309px; transform: scaleX(1.1284);">comes by hearing” (Romans 10.17). There are also </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 858.926px; transform: scaleX(1.13278);">stories of reversal: St. Francis de Sales, who would </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 880.544px; transform: scaleX(1.23143);">be named the patron saint of Deaf people, was </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 902.162px; transform: scaleX(1.13311);">friends with a Deaf man named Martin and </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 923.779px; transform: scaleX(1.19479);">learned signing from him. When a nobleman </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 945.397px; transform: scaleX(1.27917);">asked Francis if teaching the young man was </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 967.014px; transform: scaleX(1.23721);">worth the effort, and if it would not have been </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 988.632px; transform: scaleX(1.29845);">easier to pray for a miraculous cure, Francis </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 1010.25px; transform: scaleX(1.16608);">replied that he had learned so much from Martin </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 1031.87px; transform: scaleX(1.15696);">through their friendship that it never occurred to </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 96.9042px; transform: scaleX(1.18079);">him to ask God to make Martin a hearing person </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 118.522px; transform: scaleX(1.13353);">for his own convenience.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 483.335px; top: 145.544px; transform: scaleX(1.14864);">The theological explanations also include </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 167.162px; transform: scaleX(1.17698);">points that may not be obvious to non-Catholics, </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 188.779px; transform: scaleX(1.1361);">such as a requirement to use valid forms or words </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 210.397px; transform: scaleX(1.1836);">during the Mass and absolution. Because of this, </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 232.014px; transform: scaleX(1.15284);">early Deaf candidates for orders spent decades in </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 253.632px; transform: scaleX(1.15625);">limbo, awaiting rulings from Rome. This began to </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 275.25px; transform: scaleX(1.14243);">change with the Second Vatican Council, 1962-65, </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 296.867px; transform: scaleX(1.17192);">whose approval of vernacular languages seemed </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 318.485px; transform: scaleX(1.16456);">to clear the way for sign languages, which by this </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 340.103px; transform: scaleX(1.12636);">time were recognized as full languages. </span></span></div><div><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 483.335px; top: 367.125px; transform: scaleX(1.18402);"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 483.335px; top: 367.125px; transform: scaleX(1.18402);">As social movements produced disability le</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 388.742px; transform: scaleX(1.20494);">gislation, the church found a path for participa</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 410.36px; transform: scaleX(1.15006);">tion through its long-standing social justice tradi</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 431.978px; transform: scaleX(1.19408);">tion. Coupled with the waves of disability rights </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 453.595px; transform: scaleX(1.2044);">movements and legislative affirmation, this has </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 475.213px; transform: scaleX(1.19451);">brought back the question of disability vis-à-vis </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 496.831px; transform: scaleX(1.13942);">cultural difference. A possible resolution seems to </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 518.448px; transform: scaleX(1.24325);">be in the social model coupled with liberation </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 540.066px; transform: scaleX(1.2339);">theology, a movement that began among Latin </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 561.684px; transform: scaleX(1.13219);">American Catholics. One example is the ecumenic</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 583.301px; transform: scaleX(1.19555);">al Claggett Statement of 1985, which states that </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 604.919px; transform: scaleX(1.14795);">Deaf people do not need to be cured of an impair</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 626.537px; transform: scaleX(1.15368);">ment but do need relief from social exclusion and </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 648.154px; transform: scaleX(1.208);">cultural oppression. It also charges churches to </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 669.772px; transform: scaleX(1.15795);">end the practices of charity that portray their ob</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 691.389px; transform: scaleX(1.16514);">jects as disadvantaged, to consider differences to </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 713.007px; transform: scaleX(1.1322);">be gifts, and to develop forms of worship that con</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 734.625px; transform: scaleX(1.13376);">vey the Deaf culture.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 734.625px; transform: scaleX(1.13376);"></span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 483.335px; top: 761.647px; transform: scaleX(1.26985);">These trends are reflected in the ongoing </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 783.264px; transform: scaleX(1.15752);">flowering of Deaf culture after Vatican II, spurred </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 804.882px; transform: scaleX(1.20323);">by technologically aided movements and cross-</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 826.5px; transform: scaleX(1.2616);">cultural understanding. A result has been the </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 848.117px; transform: scaleX(1.15281);">emergence of a “Deaf World” that identifies a dia</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 869.735px; transform: scaleX(1.1226);">spora with a bond of deafness that transcends oth</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 891.353px; transform: scaleX(1.17817);">er cultural difference. Building on this idea, Deaf </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 912.97px; transform: scaleX(1.12803);">members have established networking associ</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 934.588px; transform: scaleX(1.13021);">ations and become leaders, pastors, and role mod</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 956.206px; transform: scaleX(1.27963);">els. Yet, noting that many see the church as a </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 977.823px; transform: scaleX(1.15781);">“hearing institution” that overlooks them, the au</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 999.441px; transform: scaleX(1.12795);">thor lists still-needed changes, such as national of</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 454.511px; top: 1021.06px; transform: scaleX(1.16007);">fices, seminary training, and more use of modern media. Direction is needed in effective delivery to </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 118.522px; transform: scaleX(1.1311);">both hearing and Deaf audiences, Eucharistic </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 140.139px; transform: scaleX(1.17712);">prayers and liturgy in sign language, and theolo</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 161.757px; transform: scaleX(1.1218);">gical questions on the use of female or non-Cathol</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 183.375px; transform: scaleX(1.12086);">ic interpreters.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 183.375px; transform: scaleX(1.12086);"></span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 108.031px; top: 210.397px; transform: scaleX(1.19182);">I find hope in this book as well as challenge. </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 232.014px; transform: scaleX(1.1361);">Susan White notes in </span><i><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 229.317px; top: 232.014px; transform: scaleX(1.13498);">Christian Worship and Tech</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 253.632px; transform: scaleX(1.14589);">nological Change</span></i><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 198.601px; top: 253.632px; transform: scaleX(1.11327);"> (1994) that a historic theological </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 275.25px; transform: scaleX(1.19192);">focus on texts overlooks technological advances </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 296.867px; transform: scaleX(1.14364);">(recall that Portolano cites textual focus as a reas</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 318.485px; transform: scaleX(1.19644);">on for loss of Deaf history, which is generally an </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 340.103px; transform: scaleX(1.16169);">oral tradition). If we turn with open minds, using </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 361.72px; transform: scaleX(1.14322);">visual arts to relate stories through such media as </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 383.338px; transform: scaleX(1.24999);">statuary and stained glass windows would be </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 404.956px; transform: scaleX(1.14042);">comparable to encouraging the use of video </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 426.573px; transform: scaleX(1.1557);">screens and social media today. At the same time, </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 448.191px; transform: scaleX(1.11659);">technology is always a two-edged sword: technolo</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 469.809px; transform: scaleX(1.17531);">gical devices such as cochlear implants are often </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 491.426px; transform: scaleX(1.17726);">viewed as an attempt to erase the culture, so the </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 513.044px; transform: scaleX(1.1331);">future remains open.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 513.044px; transform: scaleX(1.1331);"></span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 108.031px; top: 540.066px; transform: scaleX(1.12759);">As a postscript, the book has a useful compan</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 561.684px; transform: scaleX(1.42356);">ion website, </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 202.155px; top: 561.684px;"> </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 214.185px; top: 561.684px; transform: scaleX(1.06174);">https://www.icfdeafservice.org/</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 583.301px; transform: scaleX(1.11196);">beopened,</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 150.096px; top: 583.301px; transform: scaleX(1.24559);"> with examples of sign language and </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 604.919px; transform: scaleX(1.11936);">liturgy. No log-in is required to use it. </span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 79.2071px; top: 669.772px; transform: scaleX(1.12353);"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also published at <a href="https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=56408">H-Net Reviews</a>.</span><span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: inherit; left: 208.913px; top: 891.83px; transform: scaleX(1.11753);"> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No</span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: inherit; left: 79.2071px; top: 913.448px; transform: scaleX(1.11802);">Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. </span><br role="presentation" /><br /></span><div id="outerContainer"><div id="mainContainer"><div id="viewerContainer" tabindex="0"><div class="pdfViewer" id="viewer"><div aria-label="Page 3" class="page" data-loaded="true" data-page-number="3" role="region" style="height: 1141px; width: 881px;"><div class="annotationLayer"><section class="linkAnnotation" data-annotation-id="11R" style="height: 15px; left: 148.618px; top: 385.86px; transform-origin: -148.618px -385.86px 0px; transform: matrix(1.44118, 0, 0, 1.44118, 0, 0); width: 148.007px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.icfdeafservice.org/beopened" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="" title="https://www.icfdeafservice.org/beopened"></a></span></section><section class="linkAnnotation" data-annotation-id="12R" style="height: 15px; left: 54.96px; top: 400.86px; transform-origin: -54.96px -400.86px 0px; transform: matrix(1.44118, 0, 0, 1.44118, 0, 0); width: 49.188px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.icfdeafservice.org/beopened" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="" title="https://www.icfdeafservice.org/beopened"></a></span></section><section class="linkAnnotation" data-annotation-id="13R" style="height: 15px; left: 54.96px; top: 477.84px; transform-origin: -54.96px -477.84px 0px; transform: matrix(1.44118, 0, 0, 1.44118, 0, 0); width: 233.829px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://networks.h-net.org/h-disability" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="" title="https://networks.h-net.org/h-disability"></a></span></section><section class="linkAnnotation" data-annotation-id="14R" style="height: 15px; left: 81.6802px; top: 557.321px; transform-origin: -81.6802px -557.321px 0px; transform: matrix(1.44118, 0, 0, 1.44118, 0, 0); width: 299.78px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56408" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="" title="https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56408"></a></span></section></div></div></div>
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</div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span></p></div>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-41577421714980432352021-09-22T11:52:00.001-04:002021-09-22T11:52:42.789-04:00Holy Time, Batman!<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Review and response:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>Hendren, Sara. What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the
Built World. New York: Riverhead Books, 2020.</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Every day, every person meets and is at odds with the built environment. Thus begins this book from a professor of design who includes accessibility in her classes. The book's several chapters illustrate how everyday construction and attitudes create disabling conditions and offers some examples of how it can be changed. Thus the book presents numerous examples, ranging from lowered picture mounting heights to lecterns to curb cuts and even construction materials.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KWYiOU4sJLQ/YUshlCT9IyI/AAAAAAAAICI/K-RxyWK_1XkZ5VbUQLf0sYHFq34TvPOsQCLcBGAsYHQ/s450/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="book cover (text on yellow background)" border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="298" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KWYiOU4sJLQ/YUshlCT9IyI/AAAAAAAAICI/K-RxyWK_1XkZ5VbUQLf0sYHFq34TvPOsQCLcBGAsYHQ/w265-h400/1.jpg" title="What Can a Body Do?" width="265" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">This narrative reinforces the claim that the essence of the social model of disability is that it is environmental factors, such as infrastructure, and not physical impairments, the functioning of one's eyes or ears, or neurological differences which create what we call disability.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">I noted a similar argument in reading Jonathan Mooney’s book <i>Normal Sucks</i> (see “</span><a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/06/just-setting-on-dryer.html" style="font-size: 16px;" target="_blank">…just a setting on the dryer</a><span style="font-size: 16px;">”). </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Mooney finds peace with his status, and Hendren reaches further: “disability” is no longer a derisive word, but a proud one, and a reminder of
(and also a reminder to) the movement that turned another derisive word into a proud
one—Christians. When we better understand the principles behind what we
practice, and look at our sources without the encrustations of culture, we can
find a new way of doing things. Hendren puts this principle to use by tackling design not as a problem, but as a way to fit function to design. The result is what she refers to as charisma (7-8), an interesting choice: in its origins, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">χαρις is a divine gift. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the face of charisma, far too often, “normal” has
exerted tyranny: it seems that we must fit in, listen to the loudest, and conform.
No wonder that the apostle Paul also told early Christians not to conform to
everyone else’s ideas (Romans 12.2)—and it’s good advice for designers, too, as well as wisdom that reaches beyond religious boundaries. Design the world for all, with all their differences. In the end, no body is
average and every body is at war with the built environment. But some are given
deficit labels like “weak” while others are socially accepted (do you know
anyone who considers eyeglasses to be corrective of disability?)—don’t be
conformed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dyJ2GSzY2HQ/YUsk0MW-lFI/AAAAAAAAICQ/nCd89PGHb1wmWeEGMmJ0jovBc83OzuELwCLcBGAsYHQ/s526/1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Resisting normal requires reframing who and what we call the problem. What disabled me were limitations not in myself, but within the environment." border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="526" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dyJ2GSzY2HQ/YUsk0MW-lFI/AAAAAAAAICQ/nCd89PGHb1wmWeEGMmJ0jovBc83OzuELwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/1.jpg" title="#NormalSucks" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(https://www.facebook.com/TheJonathanMooney/posts/280063170152937)</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This book is highly
recommended for thoughtful consideration about the shape of the world:
buildings, streets, institutions, language and descriptions, cultural
organizations, centers of power, the layout of rooms, how we move through
spaces. It is a use-centered view that asks what users need first. In addition
to the obvious physical items that we often think of, the author also considers
design for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people—again, a social matter, as we know
how to design for all, but often don’t.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is not only for Christians, but it does call those in churches to think about disability. Religious and non-religious ethical values point to standing firm on one's beliefs that should include kindness and thoughtfulness to all. They also point to self-evaluation, and too many churches have forgotten their original calls to practice justice towards all and service beyond nationality.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Time is included in design.
We have come to accept the constraints of an industrialized world where
everything is scheduled, a world where one must not only be busy, but be busy at an approved rate. We live by the clock. First developed by those outside the mainstream to mark the rhythms of sacred
time, clocks have now become a ruler also, one that disconnects us from the
body and the seasons. For one example, why do we tolerate school times that require children to
walk or wait in the darkness, being killed or injured, or disrupt everyone’s
psyche twice a year for “daylight savings”? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Time measures one of the prejudices against
people with disabilities. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Don’t be conformed—the early Christians, among
others, distinguished the proper time, x</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 12pt;">ρονος</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">from the time of the clock, </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 12pt;">καιρος</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. The ancients still have something to teach us.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i>Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from the Indianapolis Public Library, with an agreement that I would return it within three weeks. I did this, even though the library no longer levies fines for late returns. </i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-26720778442887083582021-07-30T14:55:00.000-04:002021-07-30T14:55:04.310-04:00 Disability Pride Month—Toward a Bottoms Up! theology of disability<p>A review and reflections: Joerg Rieger, <i>No Religion but Social Religion: Liberating Wesleyan theology</i>. Nashville: General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, 2018.</p><div style="text-align: center;">O wad some Power the giftie gie us</div><div style="text-align: center;">To see oursels as ithers see us!</div><div style="text-align: center;">It wad frae mony a blunder free us….</div><div style="text-align: center;">- - -</div><div style="text-align: center;">“To A Louse,” Robert Burns</div><p>Honored more in the breach, this popular saying reminds us that a first step in approaching theology is to remove one’s own “blinders” so that we may see the “structures of sin” that surround us. To make his point, Rieger tells a story of a presentation explaining that John Wesley’s theology is a reversal of top-down religion. At a faculty meeting, the hearers seemed unable to grasp the problem. At a meeting of disadvantaged high schoolers, the message was clearly understood, and discussion added to his store of examples.</p><p>This story came to mind when I saw a notice promoting a “freedom” rally against critical race theory (among other things) in a neighboring suburb. The notice was unravaged by the onerous demands of fact. For those who have ears and will hear (or read), this theory is an historical process that suggests we look at formative principles, examine foundations, and learn how they have affected later developments so that we can set out ways in which lasting change may be created, much as <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-caste-for-casts.html" target="_blank">Isabel Wilkerson does in <i>Caste</i></a>. </p><p>From such analysis, we find links that couple the foundations of the social model of disability and critical race theory. One of Rieger’s principles in this book is often mentioned in discussing disability theology—the unity of the body of Christ, and, in particular, the need of each part for the others, derived from 1 Corinthians 12:21 and Ephesians 4 (the RCL Epistle reading for the 18th week in Ordinary Time, which in 2021 falls on August 1). The way we live, and how we deal with disadvantaged people, does matter. </p><p>This also reminds us that, God is not at the top of an hierarchy, as most theology would have us think. Theology is the work of the people, asking where God is in our world—this is the meaning of <i>kenosis</i> (Philippians 2.7). Wesley set us an example, ministering to the lowest in the society of his day. It was not a patriarchal act of charity, but one of solidarity and refutation of power structures.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GwgXUnJ9uB8/YQRErp-1eAI/AAAAAAAAH_A/qPy9BffnGb8oE88TJZyzOgF5RG0qaqOmACLcBGAsYHQ/s736/blog-Rieger-solidarity.jpg"><img alt="I don't believe in charity. I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical. It goes from the top tot he bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other person. I have a lot to learn from other people." border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="497" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GwgXUnJ9uB8/YQRErp-1eAI/AAAAAAAAH_A/qPy9BffnGb8oE88TJZyzOgF5RG0qaqOmACLcBGAsYHQ/w270-h400/blog-Rieger-solidarity.jpg" title="Eduardo Galeano, rationalhub.com" width="270" /></a></div><br /><p>The ultimate expression of solidarity is inclusion. One form of inclusion, following Wesley’s footsteps, is ministry <i>with</i>, not <i>to</i>. It is not bombarding those thought to be outsiders with weaponized “truth,” but hearing the call of the disadvantaged and realizing that we are all one. As Rieger writes, “deep solidarity does not imply that we forget about our differences; the opposite is the case: deep solidarity enables us to find ways to make use of our differences for the common good” (78). </p><p><br /></p><p><i>Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from the Indianapolis Public Library and thereby agreed to return it in three weeks, which I did. </i><i>Joerg Rieger was my German examiner at the Graduate School in Religious Studies, Southern Methodist University, and impressed me by being perceptive enough to have me read about Wesley's social thought through German theologians. Maybe that's why I passed on the first try.</i></p><p><br /></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-38689264694917556722021-06-16T11:26:00.000-04:002021-06-16T11:26:59.755-04:00… just a setting on the dryer<p> <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">A review and response to Jonathan Mooney, </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Normal Sucks: how to
live, learn, and thrive outside the lines</i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> (New York: Henry Holt and
Company, 2019).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">What does it mean to be normal?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ABfcBRs3_7E/YMoHqku_DrI/AAAAAAAAH7A/9kZA54cRM78RBHFbiERI_fzb2rXAa-HewCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/norm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A young white girl in 1960's clothing asks her mother, what is normal. Mother replies, it's just a setting on the dryer" border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ABfcBRs3_7E/YMoHqku_DrI/AAAAAAAAH7A/9kZA54cRM78RBHFbiERI_fzb2rXAa-HewCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h320/norm.jpg" title="unknown author" width="320" /></a></div><br />This a meme I used to introduce the topic “<a href="https://www.flyingkittymonster.net/tim/200.html" target="_blank">the fraud of normal</a>” <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">when teaching 20<sup>th</sup> century historical developments. It often drew
the interest of the diverse lot of aspiring artists in the class.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mooney starts his exposition much as I did—noting that “normal” is only a fiction of
statistics, and while the idea has been around for some time, it gained particular
prominence at a historical time of social change. The idea of normalcy has a history, and much of it is related to the
history of ranking and stratification that has created a <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-caste-for-casts.html" target="_blank">caste-effect in modern life</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Both of these have roots and effects in emerging divisions in the middle of the 20<sup>th</sup>
century, and they continue today, reaching far beyond their origins as
distinctions become accepted standards.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">One often hears the saying “history is written by the victors,”
and so are social standards. In a parallel to history, “normal is what is
called normal by people who are called normal” (36). That leads to an inherent
bias, which is why I challenge those who talk about “history is there whether
you like it or not” to <a href="https://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-valkyrie-rides-on-michigan-road.html" target="_blank">include more</a> than the accounts of the winners in their statements.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Normal” is a form of self-justification from a group holding
power. One of the results of this phenomenon of self-justification is the
casual use of various slurs in everyday language, which leads to a lack of
recognition of the reality of the problems from many in a place of privilege
(for an example, see “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210330-the-harmful-ableist-language-you-unknowingly-use" target="_blank">The harmful ableist language you unknowingly use</a>”</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">).
In a steadily compounding spiral, society compounds its habits of overlooking the contributions
that people who are different bring to the table.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The effects of this enforcement of “normal” have been devastating,
resulting in invisibility and dehumanization. The idea of <a href="https://nursingclio.org/2021/04/15/containment-and-control-not-care-or-cure-an-interview-with-elizabeth-catte-on-virginias-eugenics-movement/" target="_blank">eugenics</a> grew from
its fascination with removing difference,</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> coupled with quantification movements (i.e., statistics that measured
deviation), all focusing on isolating and labeling some people as a problem.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">To learn more about the effects of any change, one should ask what
life was like before the event. In the case of normality, historical documents
show us that differences were once celebrated, perhaps with an attitude that they encompassed touch of
eccentricity or oddness, but accepted as part of a diverse world. It was the
rise of the field of statistics in an increasingly scientific-oriented society
that gave an impetus to the idea. By 1914, 36 states had institutions that
segregated anyone considered “feeble-minded” and by 1930, 41 states banned
non-eugenic marriage or practiced forced sterilization. In 1935, such ideas
became the law in Germany. We know how that went, don’t we?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The idea of normal is also where the popular modern inspiration
porn slogan of “overcoming” disability comes from. It proclaims that enough heroic
effort can do anything, which led the late Stella Young to critique the popular
aphorism that “the only disability is a bad attitude” as she reminded us that “<a href="https://youtu.be/8K9Gg164Bsw" target="_blank">no amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp</a>.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This book is highly recommended (along with </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Mooney’s </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheJonathanMooney" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank">Facebook page</a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">)as another example of the new day for many that has come with the
growth of the <a href="https://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/02/being-there-being-human-lenten-thoughts.html" target="_blank">civil rights movement</a> and its social theory of disability: what disables me is not anything of myself,
but the environment. With that, the theological world has slowly begun to see disability, like any difference, as an element that is to be <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-theology-of-diversity.html" target="_blank">honored as part of the divine plan</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Am I normal? No, I’m not. No one is” (216). There is no one way to
be a human—to be human is to be diverse.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Disclaimer: once again, I have irritated Amazon by borrowing this book from the Indianapolis Public Library. As per agreement with them, I returned it within the specific time period, and hope that others are now appreciating it as well.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-67726493309718251572021-06-02T09:57:00.000-04:002021-06-02T09:57:15.179-04:00A change in subscribing<p>The powers that be of Blogspot have decided, in their infinite wisdom, to drop the feature which allowed some of you to subscribe and receive the posts by e-mail. So I started an announcement-only group. In order to subscribe, send a blank e-mail to flyingkittymonster+subscribe@googlegroups.com.</p><p>Thanks for reading! </p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-56797488740731080772021-04-14T08:38:00.001-04:002021-04-14T08:38:19.885-04:00Gospel Empowerment<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A review and response to Dennis R. Edwards, <i>Might from the Margins: the Gospel's Power to Turn the Tables on Injustice</i> (Harrisonburg Virginia: Herald
Press, 2020).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As every year draws to a
close, Lake Superior State University issues a <a href="https://www.lssu.edu/traditions/banishedwords/" target="_blank">list of words that should be banished from use</a> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.
I watch for it with generally fulfilled hope that we might find respite from
banal, overused, and oxymoronic language. But one word that stands high on my
personal list has yet to make it to this esteemed group: I’ve long been tired
of “empowered.” It’s not the idea of empowerment that bothers me, it’s the
paternalistic and hypocritical way in which the word is usually used. Only rarely are pronouncements
about it accompanied by true empowerment—usually it means that responsibility
for things that go wrong has shifted down, but not the authority to change the
patterns that caused the problems.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So I rejoiced when, early
in the book, the author stated “I no longer use such language. The power of the
Gospel comes from God, not from other humans—particularly not from those who
fear losing control and influence” (31). It is those who fear losing control
who use these tactics the most, as a soporific to make others think they’re
getting somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T4buGp0ARZQ/YHbXHHCsRPI/AAAAAAAAH1o/KMQqX_23EVoCyKevs26xB2Z1MtZU9hAUACLcBGAsYHQ/s499/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="book cover, silhouette of a head" border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="328" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T4buGp0ARZQ/YHbXHHCsRPI/AAAAAAAAH1o/KMQqX_23EVoCyKevs26xB2Z1MtZU9hAUACLcBGAsYHQ/w210-h320/1.jpg" title="Might from the Margins" width="210" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">This book explores
various aspects of power within the gospels in relation to the church. Edwards
focuses on racism as an African-American, but notes that many other abuses
exist: he explicitly extends its reach to patriarchy, wealth, and being physically attractive or able-bodied. This group includes the people who typically are at the top
layers of social stratification, and they also typically view their position as
resulting from their own work or strength, or flowing from a sense of divine
right. Later in the book, Edwards extends the traits to include charisma
and extroversion, which work together to create an atmosphere of
self-promotion. This is a close relative of social Darwinism, a self-justifying
ideology that turns away from the idea of adaptability as a virtue in favor of
survival of those who label themselves the fittest. It’s odd that those who champion the use of Darwin as
a social phenomenon are often those who deny Darwin’s thoughts elsewhere, but
such is how things often go.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The gospels call us to
freedom. But too often, the gospels are used to construct misleading readings that justify our prejudices and the systems that support them. The
gospels are a story of empowerment, but have been turned from a story of outreaching grace into a series of
propositions and rules that one assents to. Did you dance? Out. Did you go to
the movies? Out. Were you born with a disability? Oh, my, what sin are you
hiding? Did you give someone a quarter? Oh, good. Did you think about the
reason why that person needed the quarter? We won’t talk about that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Into this breach between grace and practice step the
prophets, who see behind the world's glamor and status symbols. Prophets point out
injustice as they call people to hear God. They call for action, because the
well-being of God’s children is endangered, and they are angry, because things
are not right. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Prophets call to us across the ages. </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">The Negro spirituals are a historical example: they connected slaves to the biblical story, and found a way to live in faith with a God who promised deliverance for those who lived as chattel. Their songs still offer hope to everyone who is marginalized. In this light, I</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> think of the ability to discern a different, more honest reality during this </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">“Autism Awareness Month.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> These prophets have a message that we comfort ourselves with that “awareness” that
tries to avoid “acceptance.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Prophets offer hope. This
includes hope for many whose disabilities mean that their “bodies struggle in
environments not designed for them” (139). Those who are disabled, whether
physically or otherwise, along with others who experience suffering, are the
ones who can truly understand hope. Hope is not, as Edwards reminds us, a
vision held by an affluent teenager in some bedroom community who hopes for a
Lexus on her birthday. Hope comes from those who live with the painful
realities of life, those who are also the ones who can understand what renewal
is like, what it is like to be where God intends.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If this idea strikes a
chord and you see this in time, the Methodist Federation for Social Action and the Association of Ministers with Disabilities are sponsoring a discussion with Kathy Black, one of the first theologians to take on ableist misreadings of the gospels in her book <i>A Healing Homiletic</i>. It's on April 17, 2021, and you can <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/243364674188244" target="_blank">check it out here</a>. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><i>Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from the Indianapolis Public Library, with the understanding that I would return it in three weeks, which is exactly what happened. I also notice that they have now ordered six more copies. Empower on! </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-13459904399117839552021-03-29T10:31:00.002-04:002021-03-29T10:31:49.690-04:00The Valkyrie rides on Michigan Road<p>To
many theologians, the root of sin lies in the notion of rank. This notion
generates social structures that lead to stratification and stigma, as <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-caste-for-casts.html" target="_blank">Isabel Wilkerson</a> has shown—primarily in race, but applicable to most of our social institutions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
arts are not immune to this, as noted by Rae Linda Brown in her biography of
<a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/12/musical-caste.html" target="_blank">Florence Price</a></span><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">.
So it is hardly a surprise that Indianapolis gained notice for an ill-worded <a href="https://news.artnet.com/opinion/indianapolis-museum-of-art-maxwhttps://news.artnet.com/opinion/indianapolis-museum-of-art-maxwell-anderson-1945878/amp-pageell-anderson-1945878/amp-page" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">job advertisement</a> that fueled suspicions of racial bias. Suspicions
of such bias have lurked around the city for some time, especially since the
museum began to levy admission fees for entrance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Since
history is there for us to learn from whether we like it or not, let’s look at
some parts of this claim that proponents of the statement may not like. Yesterday marked an anniversary: on March 28, 1871, Richard Wagner lodged a complaint with
his publisher over the publication of the </span><span style="background: white; color: #202122; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Walkürenritt in a stand-alone version (you can
see a short comment about this at my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tim.vermande/posts/10224640156012837" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>). </span><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The idea of popular settings of just a few
minutes extracted from a four-hour long opera that was the second of a series
of four, and the same not being performed in the specially-built Bayreuth theater, was
appalling to him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
was not the first cultural fit thrown by culture snobs. In 1797, as deafness
was creeping upon him, Beethoven scandalized the musical world of
Vienna with his opus 11 trio, whose last movement is based on a popular song,
“Before I go to work.” We don’t need to stop there: for one of many examples,
think of the Renaissance composers who foreshadowed <i>Sister Act </i>by using
the tunes of popular love songs as a setting for liturgical texts. Or King
David, dancing in the streets, which also upset people (2 Samuel 6.14-22). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
old adage from Qoheleth, rendered in the Vulgate as <i>nihil novum sub sole </i>is,
it would seem, a universal value (Ecclesiastes 1.9). So should we be surprised
to see cultural snobbery rearing its head again? As Lawrence Levine details in
his book <i><a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674390775" target="_blank">Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy In America</a> </i>(Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1990), the forces that seek to create an artistic
hierarchy and enforce rules about it have long been with us. Mark Twain’s <i>Huckleberry
Finn </i>reminds us that Shakespeare was well-known in early America and widely
performed. And after The Bard, or between the acts, came the farces. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W-QDzPgHpfY/YGHgfWTb3aI/AAAAAAAAHzc/Gcv292uLtvM-7XsJq18F6D3-cSbIr0A3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s234/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="cover of Highbrow Lowbrow" border="0" data-original-height="234" data-original-width="142" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W-QDzPgHpfY/YGHgfWTb3aI/AAAAAAAAHzc/Gcv292uLtvM-7XsJq18F6D3-cSbIr0A3ACLcBGAsYHQ/w194-h320/1.jpg" title="book cover" width="194" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">Post-civil
war America was rapidly undergoing industrialization and social stratification.
Income inequality soared as the wealthy channeled tax relief to themselves. However
imperfect, the Founder’s ideals of egalitarianism found in the preamble to the
Constitution seemed to fall by the side. In theological terms, the (sinful)
human tendency to categorize and rank took hold. So it’s hardly surprising that
some people decreed that the culture of immigrants and others of lower social standing was less pure
than that of the winners of social Darwinism.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As
this happened, “the arts” became sacralized: something to be protected from the
masses, who were provided with their own entertainment. And protest happened!
Since its 1880 opening, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art had been <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/features/2011/today-in-met-history-may-31" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">closed on Sunday</a>,
the only day which the average worker had off. After years of debate, the
museum opened for the first time on Sunday on May 31, 1891. It was a small
victory, although, like many, not full: in 1897, the director of the museum defended
ejecting a plumber who tried to enter wearing overalls. More recently, in 2002,
when a radio station frequency swap in Dallas would have restricted coverage of
the <a href="https://www.naxos.com/contest/Tim_Sherrie_Vermande.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">city’s classical music station</a>, </span><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">some
members of the council <a href="https://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2021/03/saving-classical-music.html" target="_blank">warned about making presumptions of who the listeners</a>
were. And now, the cycle is playing out again here in Indy. The museum has
promised <a href="https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/newfields-releases-action-plan-in-response-to-racially-insensitive-job-posting/531-25ef20ea-55e4-45c0-967c-a261b75fdda7" target="_blank">changes</a></span><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">.
Quo vadis?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>Disclaimer: I bought </i>Highbrow, Lowbrow <i>while in graduate school and later apparently shared it with someone, and it never came back. So I used my notes and a library copy (which I returned on time) here. I have never been a member of the Indianapolis Museum of Art but did attend a few faculty development programs there, and often visited when it was free. </i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-59177642573437222592021-03-16T10:09:00.000-04:002021-03-16T10:09:20.191-04:00Saving classical music<p>This is a copy of an essay from 2002 for Naxos which won the grand prize on the topic. It can be found <a href="https://www.naxos.com/contest/Tim_Sherrie_Vermande.htm" target="_blank">here</a>, but I'm publishing it to my blog to make it more readily available. </p><p style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">In the </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">US</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> (at least) many churches are adopting a so-called "shopping mall"</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">approach to their outreach. They use a variety of methods--support groups</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">dealing with many topics, interest groups, traditional salvation appeals,</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">child care, user-friendly services, to name a few--to get people in.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">Although sometimes criticized as marketing God like a box of soap, these</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">means are successful for many congregations.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">My take-off on this is that getting people to listen to classical music (and</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">spend some money on it) requires a similar approach. It can't just focus on</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">attending concerts. There are several areas that will appeal to people,</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">depending on their background and interests. There are also various levels</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">of knowledge/literacy. Therefore, I will address several areas, and I am</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">sure there are several others. I will mix this with studies in American</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">cultural history (my current graduate school work).</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">If classical music is to survive, it must become the cultural property of</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">everyone, not just a few. There is a widespread stereotype (at least where I</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">live) that a high level of affluence and liking "classical" music go hand in</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">hand (and it's not seriously resisted by many of those involved, who</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">variously enjoy status or the profits that come from selling expensive</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">goods).</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">This attitude to classical music (along with other arts) is a comparatively</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">recent development. In earlier </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">America</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">, concerts were widely attended by a</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">cross-section of the populace. They were very different, though. They might intersperse marches, play shorter selections of long works, include a</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">popular song, and so on. Now, I prefer to listen to a whole Mozart symphony,</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">but if playing single movements gets people introduced to it and listening</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">to the rest, I'm not going to complain.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">But around the turn of the 20th century a group of self-styled guardians of</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">culture made Beethoven and his kin into idols, whose holy works must be</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">appreciated only in a suitable setting (and only by those properly</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">prepared). We might add to this that the performances often became stolid,</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">stodgy exercises, losing the vitality that some artists are beginning to</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">reclaim (especially, it seems, on </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">Naxos</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">, if I may throw that in). And one of</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">the lost pages of history, the </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">Astor Place</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> riot, showed that such things</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">mattered to many people.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">It may be that such things still matter to many people, but some have closed</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">off their input. Do we know the real size or potential of the classical</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">audience? The success of "Elvira Madigan", Amadeus, Pachelbel's Canon,</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">Mozart in MASH, and so on point to a wider interest than is often supposed.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">I am often asked where to purchase the music from a particular movie.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">Ravinia packs them in for jazz as much as the Chicago Symphony. There's a</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">very popular rack of </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">Naxos</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> recordings at the entrance to our local bookstore</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">(too popular, I can never find what I'm looking for). Most recently, a</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">proposal to move the tower and frequency of WRR, a classical station owned</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">by the city of </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">Dallas</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">, brought wide-spread reaction that resulted in</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">scrapping the proposal. Of particular interest, much of the opposition came</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">from the south side of the city, which would have had reduced coverage. The</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">south side is predominantly Black, and is not one of the areas that the</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">Jaguar and Hummer dealers target when purchasing advertising time on WRR.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">The councilperson of one area affected stated that the city should not</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">presume that classical music was not part of the life of his constituents. I</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">suppose it's true that someone working at minimum wage and barely paying the</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">rent isn't going to attend a concert, but that doesn't seem to stop them</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">from listening to the radio.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">So why doesn't this market seem to matter, or show itself?</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">An easy target is the cost of attending a classical concert. It's getting</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">out of hand for even middle class people. There's no easy solution to</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">this--orchestras are still filling the seats while losing money.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">Developing a wider audience, both in numbers and depth of its members, is</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">something I can say more about. It seems that our schools (at least from an</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">American perspective) are doing little or nothing. When they teach music,</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">it's what we call "preaching to the choir"--aimed at those who are already</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">interested. Little is done to introduce students to a variety of music and</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">thus create music lovers. There is little effort to introduce people to the</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">joy of playing an instrument (and what effort does exist is directed to</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">developing a few virtuosi or band players). The solution is multi-faceted.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">Parents must care enough to demand that schools teach music (and arts) and</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">not just focus on reading (important as that is)--that schools be a place of</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">learning and education, not just trade training. I could go</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">on--administrators who know nothing but paperwork instead of real</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">supervision and sharing, and so on.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">I'm not sure how to get this going, either. Schools are broke and the people</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">are submissive. Maybe we are entering a new Dark Age. That's pessimistic,</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">but the more the MBA-mentality of "what's it worth" as the ultimate</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">expression takes over, the more music will suffer. It has a value that isn't</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">readily expressed in terms of The Almighty Dollar.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">I think the music business needs a little openness to technology. I know</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">several people who came to classical music through Walter/Wendy Carlos--but</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">I see little acknowledgement of that work as a serious effort. And I don't</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">want to see people playing instruments replaced by computers, but my</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">MP3's--or even better, NoteWorthyComposer files (which let me see the score</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">while it plays)--are fun, a good way to get to know the music. Bach was</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">always complaining about his forces, Beethoven about the instruments</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">available--what would they do today?</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">To some extent, the brunt of this falls on the recording industry. It is the</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">most visible, and recordings are the primary exposure for most people. But</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">people are frustrated by recordings. Because popular music is merchandised,</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">there is no service, and the selection of other genres at many stores is</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">nearly non-existent. I am always amused while browsing the classical section</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">of the local bookstore (which is halfway decent, although disorganized)</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">when some kid comes to ask if he can help with anything. He thinks Beethoven</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">is a dog in a movie. So what happens when people do hear something they</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">like? Radio stations sometimes have their playlists at a web site, which is</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">a great idea. That leads to what is perhaps the one concrete suggestion I</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">can make: </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">Naxos</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> should put its index of movie music on the web and label it</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">clearly so search engines will find it. Then make sure people can actually</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">buy the recording. Then think about a similar way of putting non-movie</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">music, something that gets beyond facing an alphabet of unfamiliar names,</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">with those marvelous downloadable samples. Possibilities are "if you like</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">this... try that;" music you already know, music from commercials, and</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Arial;">expanding the movie list to TV shows.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-64049944686743941122021-03-15T08:51:00.000-04:002021-03-15T08:51:08.600-04:00Planting Small Packages<p>A review of Rebecca
L. Holland, <i>Hope for the broken:
Using writing to find God’s Grace</i>. Rookland AR: TouchPoint Press, 2021.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On
my bookshelf sits a copy of <i>The Elements of Style </i>(Strunk and White), a
volume I first met in high school. I’ve probably owned a dozen copies, having
worn some out, loaned some out, and kept up with new editions. All of these
have been the same small book, proving the adage that good things come in small
packages.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rebecca
Holland has written another such small book. It is part autobiography, part
sharing of ideas, part devotion, part guidance, part instruction manual, part
motivational, and an outstanding word of encouragement. As she tells and
reflects on her own story, she gives a foundation that encourages the reader to
recall and tell their own story.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RIo1aXLPuVo/YE9QqJ3GKYI/AAAAAAAAHyY/MUPdJs-MDUwbXVthBi56_yt5-mKgJGyOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s500/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="cover of Hope for the Broken. a flower growing in a pavement crack" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RIo1aXLPuVo/YE9QqJ3GKYI/AAAAAAAAHyY/MUPdJs-MDUwbXVthBi56_yt5-mKgJGyOwCLcBGAsYHQ/w213-h320/1.jpg" title="courtesy TouchPoint Press" width="213" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Writing
is a gift from God, a path to finding comfort and healing, a way to share love,
kindness, champion the underdog, and turn the world upside down. Working with
this theme, “Rev. Beckie” leads us in struggles with feelings of inadequacy and
being out of place through a path of learning that these characteristics are
what God works with and uses to give strength. The practice of writing develops
memory, discipline, and teaches us to defy a world of racism, ableism, and sexism,
and find healing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In
this digital age, we often touch keyboards and read screens. She puts some
emphasis on using a real pen (or pencil) and paper as a way to engage our
entire being as we copy and write slowly and thoughtfully. And doodling is good
too! For those of us who can’t write well by hand and find a keyboard helpful,
keep in mind that we can do that thoughtfully.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
book is a significant reminder of the power of writing and the need for each of
us, especially those often marginalized, to proclaim love in a broken world. People
with disabilities are often not heard telling their own stories, which means
that others define us. “Nothing about us, without us” matters here too—no one
else is able to tell this story. Plant a seed, even in a parking lot, and watch the flowers grow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Disclaimer:
I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher for review. I
wasn’t asked to do anything other than respond honestly. This was nice, even if
I didn’t get a library receipt telling me how much I’ve saved. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-76770901860671057712021-02-17T10:31:00.013-05:002021-02-19T08:05:35.202-05:00Being there, being human: Lenten thoughts<p>A review of and reactions to Judith Heumann<b>, </b><i>Being Heumann: an unrepentant memoir of a disability rights activist </i>(Boston: Beacon Press 2020).</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;">From 1953 to 1957, a television show featuring Walter
Cronkite sought to re-create historical events as if one was present under the
title “You are there.” I recall seeing some of the re-broadcasts of this show
in my early school years. I had much the same feeling of presence of those school years
while reading <i>Being Heumann</i>: being segregated, repeated examinations, denials of needs for no good reason, and gradually learning that I was different. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;">Hers is a story of self-discovery and a
chronicle of the development of the disability rights movement. I am several
years younger than Heumann, and an early
beneficiary of her work. As is the case when I reach beyond the textbook's skimpy coverage and take
extra time to teach about the civil rights movement, it is my hope that the
younger generation of people of color and people with disabilities will come to
understand how things were, where they have changed, so that in keeping with
Santayana’s maxim, they may continue in a path of thoughtful change.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ysz2Zo7x8M/YC0XaMpbACI/AAAAAAAAHwQ/jiF2v8uEhOkkNX1vo9blXmRzRTJb9UrMACLcBGAsYHQ/s1119/11-4-13.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."" border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1119" height="229" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ysz2Zo7x8M/YC0XaMpbACI/AAAAAAAAHwQ/jiF2v8uEhOkkNX1vo9blXmRzRTJb9UrMACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h229/11-4-13.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;">Like Heumann, I came to understand that my presence
wasn’t always welcomed by school administrators. Physical disabilities were
equated with mental disabilities, and there were struggles to be mainstreamed.
I was often dragged from class to take this or that test. I also sensed a
change of tone when we moved across town and entered a different school, but hadn’t heard about the early federal laws
that required basic forms of inclusion. As she writes, being first is often
difficult, and there was a need to prove that one could do it—if you were allowed
to try. Many were more comfortable with exclusion. Even today, the idea of
making environments more accessible seems to escape many people. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;">Times change, but it may seem that some values do not.
To the parents of a previous generation, disability was viewed in terms of
President Roosevelt: something to be hidden or a medical condition to “overcome.”
Although changing slowly, the social model now sees the issue as one of access
and design. But disabled people are still knocking on doors where we aren’t
welcome, or are regarded more as a fire hazard than as people.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p>And thus began a cycle. A lack of inclusion leads to
invisibility. Invisibility leads to a lack of planning for inclusion. Lack of
inclusion leads to being ignored. People who are ignored don’t exist. Ah, but
there was one place we could be seen—telethons! Helpless little children in
need of charity, which meant that others knew best what we need. As she relates, grasping this cycle produced an understanding of a need to demand
attention, which took the form of occupation of offices, and, eventually,
recognition of disability rights not as a medical matter but as civil rights.
Heumann was a leader in this effort, and her story is well-told and
captivating.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oMDVMr3CEGQ/YC0Z9-mhe2I/AAAAAAAAHwc/syXyb4rt3Woig0Jdfj9KDwTZYj0cqmPawCLcBGAsYHQ/s499/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Being Heumann cover: a photo of a light-skinned woman sitting on a chair" border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oMDVMr3CEGQ/YC0Z9-mhe2I/AAAAAAAAHwc/syXyb4rt3Woig0Jdfj9KDwTZYj0cqmPawCLcBGAsYHQ/w208-h320/1.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;">Michel Foucault reminds us that those who create
“normal” often have unspoken or assumed standards, and enforce them by
punishing deviance. In my city, we have just seen a flagrant demonstration of
this principle. Over the weekend, a local art museum <a href="https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/newfields-says-it-deeply-regrets-offensive-job-positing/531-c5ce18ec-42e4-4f28-a2dc-be4b33af91e0" target="_blank">advertised for an executive director</a>
who would, among other things, maintain its <span style="background: white; color: #202124;">“traditional, core, white art audience.”</span> There's been a lot of media spilling of ink and electrons. There may be a protest: will it be <a href="https://geekygimp.com/crip-the-resistance-thoughts-and-resources-on-accessible-protests/" target="_blank">accessible</a> for once?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;">As Heumann notes, disability
and race are linked, for the disability rights movement grew
from the civil rights movement, and the two have always drawn on each other. Both
are opposed to many of the norms that lurk beneath the surface. This
construction of this ad reminds me that the standards of “normal” still stand. It also reminds me of students who didn't
pay attention in writing class and tried to cover up that they didn't care when
we covered inclusivity. It reminds me of the cheap (and ineffective) overlays that
supposedly make web sites accessible to people with visual disabilities. Not
only do they not work, they display to the world that you don’t care enough to
do the job properly (for another example, see an <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2016/2/disabled-people-need-not-apply.html" target="_blank">article by David Perry</a>). </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;">As we enter another season of Lent, there is yet a need to examine these assumed and unspoken norms. “Disability is a natural
aspect of the human condition.… We are all human. Why do we see disability
differently from any other aspect of being human? (196, 202).</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><i>Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from the Indianapolis Public Library in Kindle format, so it was returned automatically on the due date. Amazon doesn't publicize this very well, but a Kindle reader is available (free) for most computers and phones. </i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-54124148684434954572021-01-11T12:58:00.001-05:002021-01-11T12:58:44.441-05:00The Jungle of Gender<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">A review and thoughts about James Essinger and Sandra
Koutzenko, </span><i style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">Frankie: How One Woman Prevented a Pharmaceutical Disaster</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;"> (North
Palm Beach FL: Wellspring, 2019)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .1pt;">Many people will remember
reading Upton Sinclair's <i>The Jungle</i> in school. The book, which tells the
story of an immigrant family who are taken advantage of at every turn, gained
fame for something else: its descriptions of food processing, which led to the
author's comment that he had "aimed at the public’s heart and by accident
hit its stomach."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .1pt;">Today, as we witness gender
disparity, disability discrimination, and political manipulation of public
agencies in the face of Covid-19, there's another such story lurking in the
life of Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey (24 July 1914 - 7 August 2015). Better known
as “Frankie,” Dr. Kelsey, M.D. (note that, ye purveyors of academic and gender
nonsense), has faded from public recognition, but in her lifetime, she stood
out as a government employee who faced down pressure from corporate chiefs as
well as other government agencies. When she was, by random assignment, given
the task of evaluating a new drug for approval in the United States in 1960,
she found numerous problems with the studies, and the responses did
not satisfy her. As she probed deeper, she found more problems, and thereby
stopped a short-sighted approval of a drug now regarded as
dangerous—thalidomide. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .1pt;">The story itself is of
interest in understanding how regulations should work, and how other forces try
to shortcut them. There is some scientific discussion, but it ought to be
within the province of anyone who has passed biology in high school (although
sometimes, seeing posts on social media, I think this might be worth more
worry). The style is not academic—it is a journalistic report, replete with
comments about corporate greed. Much of this seems to be in hindsight, and it
sometimes forgets the workings of scientific method, but this does not detract
from its insights.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OylBCfKhPJ0/X_yPSYou6UI/AAAAAAAAHt8/p7-7HOUMtakTREKgJfeT_UTGLGcI56RhwCLcBGAsYHQ/s499/51W4Yv3ySpL._SX332_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Book cover: a woman with close-cropped hair appears to be speaking persuasively" border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="334" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OylBCfKhPJ0/X_yPSYou6UI/AAAAAAAAHt8/p7-7HOUMtakTREKgJfeT_UTGLGcI56RhwCLcBGAsYHQ/w268-h400/51W4Yv3ySpL._SX332_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" title=""Frankie"" width="268" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .1pt;">Reading the book also
brought to mind a number of cultural points. The first is the treatment of
women in the professions. Her given name, Frances, is often confused by those
who have lost track of their Latin declensions and gender markers; added to
this was being known almost everywhere as “Frankie.” As a result, she received
an invitation to the University of Chicago from a man who felt that women were
not able to handle science. To avoid embarrassment, the university was forced
to accept her. And her concern for drug effects on pregnant women was also roundly ignored by
many men in the field.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .1pt;">There’s also a section on
the origin of pharmaceuticals in modern life, which includes how Germany became
an early leader it the field—from a combination of Nazi experiments and a way to
rebuild the post-war economy. And if one follows the thread, there’s a good bit
here about the influences of greed, communication delays in a pre-internet
world, and bad translations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .1pt;">In November 1961, the first
reports of birth defects from thalidomide became public. One of the results
parallels that of Sinclair: legislation that required the FDA to provide more
comprehensive safety studies before approval of a drug, and other regulatory
powers such as the ability to order the withdrawal of a drug if the need arises. Safety did come to the fore, and while the people were heard, in the long term, much of this has been lost.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .1pt;">Historically, the lessons
of this book include the need in today’s atmosphere to understand the
historical background of laws, including regulatory agencies. Another area
addressed are recent measures that have been taken to compensate thalidomide
victims. This is mostly in Europe and the U.K., as thalidomide was not approved
here and its use is strictly regulated today. But neither across the pond nor here has
the cost of living with any disability been given adequate consideration.
Social and employment discrimination, marriage restrictions, disability
insurance payments, the high cost of care and adaptive devices, all remind one
of the exploitations which Sinclair addressed. While the remedies of his time
and the 1960s rightly needed to be handled, there remain serious problems
today. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .1pt;"><i>Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from the Indianapolis Public Library, and promised to return it by the due date, which I have done. On my checkout receipt, the Library informed me that I've saved about $400 by using their services through the year. So its no surprise that Amazon and others have proposed ending them. </i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .1pt;"><i><br /></i></span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-40309425810758055702020-12-10T15:08:00.000-05:002020-12-10T15:08:24.538-05:00Musical Cast(e)<p>A
review of Rae Linda Brown, <i>The Heart of a Woman: the life and music of
Florence B. Price</i> (Guthrie Ramsey Jr, ed.) Urbana: University of Illinois Press,
2020. (NB: the author died in 2017; the editor updated some of the information for
publication).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BaCODS_3ffY/X9JrZelrBvI/AAAAAAAAHrs/eSPCuCQ1-S43EOEMRSduEjRGYwKXHIoRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s755/9780252085109_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="book cover, portrait of a lighter-skinned Black woman" border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BaCODS_3ffY/X9JrZelrBvI/AAAAAAAAHrs/eSPCuCQ1-S43EOEMRSduEjRGYwKXHIoRgCLcBGAsYHQ/w265-h400/9780252085109_lg.jpg" title="The Heart of a Woman" width="265" /></a></div><br /><p>Music,
the universal language! Yet how often is it clouded by assumptions, such as being divided into two worlds, one the product of grumpy old white Europeans,
and the other dominated by young flash-in-the-pans who often trade pyrotechnics
for talent? But like many others, this is a false dichotomy, and this book is
an excellent example.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While listening to “<a href="https://www.yourclassical.org/programs/performance-today/episodes/2019/08/31">Performance Today</a>” one morning, I heard something unfamiliar but interesting--folksong settings by Florence
Price. They reminded me of Beethoven’s similar settings, along with Bach’s
appropriation of popular tunes in his works. Further commentary and a little
research gave more information, and when I learned about this biography, it was a
must-read. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Price,
born in 1887, died in 1953. Her life spanned the rise of legal discrimination,
some of the first tentative steps to end that system, and challenged a dual
glass ceiling in music—women and color in the formal settings of orchestral
music. And she reached into the realm of popular music with taste and style.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 191.25pt;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are many parallels here to events found in
<a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-caste-for-casts.html">Isabel Wilkerson’s <i>Caste: the origins of our discontents</i></a>. For example, Brown refers to an early Jim Crow law, the Tillman Separate
Coach Act of 1891 as “caste legislation” passed not out of sudden aversion, but
in rejection of the social and political advances of middle-class blacks (29).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It was an event that influenced Price's life.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 191.25pt;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For a young musician such as Price, discrimination was
particularly acute, as most whites thought of themselves as cultured, while
Blacks were presumed to lack culture and refinement—as well as the ability to gain it. But all the same, and partially motivated by such Jim Crow laws, Price moved from Arkansas to attend the New England
Conservatory of Music in 1903. In her course of studies over three years, she
did well. But she still faced racial discrimination, especially in obtaining
housing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 191.25pt;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">At graduation, she returned to Little Rock. At that
time, she faced continuing efforts to disenfranchise Blacks, as well as unequal
pay. So she took a teaching position at Clark University, Atlanta. After a
short time, she returned to Little Rock and married a lawyer, Thomas Price, who
was active in legal challenges to discriminatory provisions. She also followed a typical path: she soon left full-time teaching to raise the couple’s children, but did continue
private lessons, which gave the opportunity to compose exercises for her
students. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In
another <i>Caste</i> parallel, increasing racism through the 1920s, turning
into outright terrorism from groups such as the KKK, prompted another departure. The family moved to Chicago in 1927. Chicago was seen as a promised land to many, especially musicians, being the center of jazz and the developing gospel movement. Here, Price continued to write songs, and also took up a pen name,
“Vejay,” under which she wrote musicals and commercial jingles. But all was not
well. Reflecting the experiences of many in the Depression, in 1931 she
divorced her husband on grounds of abuse, and then remarried in six weeks. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But
there was breakthrough: in 1932, she completed her first symphony and won the
Wanamaker Foundation prize in that category, along with another for her piano sonata. Part
of the prize was that the symphony was played at the 1933 World's Fair by the
Chicago Symphony under Frederick Stock.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By
1934, she was separated. In 1935 she travelled to Little Rock to play a benefit
concert at Dunbar High School. In another parallel illustrating the events of <i>Caste</i>,
the school’s previous building had been condemned. The school board authorized
a new building but provided no funding. The Rosenwald Fund agreed to pay for a
building on the condition that it would be used for vocational training
only—leading to menial jobs, trapping its graduates in the caste system. The
new building opened in 1930, by which time the curriculum included the liberal
arts. In comparison, the (Central) Little Rock High School, built in 1927, had
much larger facilities but was restricted to whites only. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">After
this, Price faded on the scene, apparently due to health problems. In the
middle of planning a trip to Europe that would include promoting her music she
died in Chicago on June 3, 1953. Much of her music was never published, and generally thought to be lost. But a 2009 discovery at at house in downstate St. Anne turned up more compositions, and some have also been found in Arkansas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Price
appears to have been a woman of her times, but one who also sought to reach
beyond social limitations. Brown notes that she lacked the assurance and
aggression which are often associated with men, characteristics that are viewed
as necessary in professions to get ahead (often expressed as a man is
confident, a woman is bossy). As well, race compounded that. Although she did
well in Chicago, where the <i>Chicago Defender</i> referred to her as the dean
of composers, exposure to other areas did not happen in her lifetime. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While
that wider exposure did not happen during her lifetime, to some extent, the
ready availability of recordings has begun to change that. And, as I was
writing this, came news that the <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/arts/philadelphia-orchestra-florence-price-yannick-nezet-seguin-review-20201125.html">Philadelphia Orchestra</a> has scheduled all of her symphonies for performance over the next seasons. These will be a welcome change for anyone interested in expanding their musical horizons.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>Disclaimer:
I borrowed this book from the Indianapolis Public Library on the condition that
I would return it within three weeks. I kept that promise. I also have an undergraduate
minor in music, funded by a scholarship to Indiana University back in the days
when the state recognized and encouraged learning to think.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-41518353515375156862020-11-25T09:02:00.003-05:002020-11-25T09:02:34.758-05:00Doorkins, The Book<p><b>Lisa Gutwein with Rowan Ambrose, illustrator, <i>Doorkins the Cathedral Cat </i>(London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017) ISBN 978-1785923579 </b></p><p class="MsoNormal">A few weeks ago, I wrote about the <a href="http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/10/doorkins-magnificat-maybe-i-am-welcome.html" target="_blank">memorial service</a> for the resident cat of
Southwark Cathedral, Doorkins Magnificat.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So
having seen the movie, what does one do next? Read the book, of course. Our
library had it in the Children’s Room, but they let me borrow and read it
anyway. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IzV8NKVvQHI/X75ixqcxlqI/AAAAAAAAHo4/KwL9xlh4dasYjqWOivt1m3s43bAqqslLQCLcBGAsYHQ/s499/61iXIs62oKL._SY354_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration style of a cat in front of a cathedral" border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="499" height="285" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IzV8NKVvQHI/X75ixqcxlqI/AAAAAAAAHo4/KwL9xlh4dasYjqWOivt1m3s43bAqqslLQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h285/61iXIs62oKL._SY354_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" title="Cover of Doorkins The Cathedral Cat" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>It’s
a short book, all of 40 pages. About half of it covers a week in the life of
Doorkins—children visiting, posing in selfies, escorting a bride down the
aisle, the inevitable meetings, the Queen stopping by, meeting with
parishioners, and of course, getting hair on the bishop’s vestments. It’s all
told with a fine dose of whimsy and wonderfully illustrated.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
other part of the book is a series of photographs of Doorkins at work around
the cathedral. It's a charming series that reminds us of the value of rest. And that brings to my own thoughts, reinforced by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/flyingkittymonster/">Blaze snoozing on my lap</a>, that it's time for a nap. But before I go, a reminder of the saying I quoted before: “she entered
and we made her welcome. People concluded that if this little cat is welcome,
maybe I am too.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On
this Thanksgiving week here in the States, one that began with Christ the King
and the lesson of being kind and helpful to others from Matthew 25, let’s
remember that, say <i>deo gratias</i>, and make everyone welcome. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-18019090619323546142020-11-18T15:38:00.001-05:002020-11-18T15:38:22.059-05:00A caste for casts<p> A review and reflections on my field: <b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Caste:
the origins of our discontents, Isabel Wilkerson. New York: Random House, 2020.</span></b></p>
<p style="line-height: 95%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 17.3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">It often happens, that those who live at a later time
are unable to grasp the point which the great undertakings or actions of this
world had their origin…. all things… are at their beginnings so small and faint
in outline that one cannot easily convince oneself that from them will grow
matters of great moment. -- Matteo Ricci, <i>Historia</i> in Jonathan D.
Spence, <i>The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci</i> (New York: Penguin, 1985),
267.</span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Caste
</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">opens with
a story that illustrates Ricci’s statement: a 2016 heat wave in Siberia that
melted the permafrost and unleashed toxic anthrax in a community. The spores
had never died, but laid dormant, awaiting circumstances that would bring them
to flourish. Wilkerson likens this to a building with a small defect in a beam
that, over the years, imperceptibly weakens the entire structure. In all of
these cases, an unnoticed and unintended flaw springs up to cause problems of
“great moment.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That
small defect in the beam is caste, a human hierarchy that leaves in its wake
social rigidity, power structures, stigma, and dehumanization. Caste
facilitates but is not the same as racism, and is also a more inclusive
explanation of the phenomena of exclusion, one that reaches beyond race. Often
justified through religion and culture, caste becomes an underlying and often
unconscious structure in our lives. In this book, Wilkerson examines three
caste systems: India, Nazi Germany, and race in the United States.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span>Race, as I often explored in teaching, is a recent social construct (hey, so is disability—which we’ll come back to). It has no basis in biology, and originated from the transatlantic slave trade. The social construct of racism refers to dislike or disadvantaging a person or group because of the ascribed race. Caste is similar, but creates a hierarchical system of enforcement, one that tends to be impersonal and does not require personal dislike. Caste becomes a routine pattern, with unthinking expectations based on a perception of natural order.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Indian system i</span>s well-known and oldest. The American system developed from the
arrival of the first Africans in 1619. With a racial basis, it resulted in laws
that defined and enforced distinctions, such as who could be enslaved for life
and who could not, who could be Christian or not, or even who was regarded as
having a soul or not. In this way, American slavery, which lasted until 1865,
was not the same as that of the ancient world. In turn, the justifications
behind this led to eugenics, which emerged full-blown in Nazi Germany, with
distinctions and definitions derived from American standards.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
eight pillars of caste begin with divine will or order, which leads to
inherited status. From this there is a need to control marriage, which
guarantees purity within the dominant group. This is enforced through absolute
standards, occupational hierarchy, dehumanization, and the use of terror, fear,
and psychological degradation to reinforce status. A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/business/race-discrimination-lawsuit-jpmorgan.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/business/race-discrimination-lawsuit-jpmorgan.html">recent article</a> about a
discrimination lawsuit provides a perfect illustration of all of these. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
caste system creates and requires inequality. In turn, that generates dissent,
rivalry, distrust and lack of empathy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An
excellent example is the story of Cotton Mather’s slave Onesimus, who in a 1721
epidemic shared an African vaccination against smallpox. Many would not use it,
as they assumed nothing from an African slave would work, but it was, after
many deaths, proven useful. Sometimes the results are violent, such as the 1921
Tulsa riots where a successful Black area was wiped out (this is one of several
incidents graphically described in the book that illustrate the atrocities of
the American racial legacy). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
are also sociological implications. Descriptive terms are applied, such as
black and white, which are not at all true. I am pink and my neighbor is brown.
But gradations are forgotten in caste systems, which pull people apart into
categories, label and then reinforce the status consequences of those
categories. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XDDxcDjDZNg/X7WBlGuF0bI/AAAAAAAAHn4/3gJaCTSM10kyY8vCI52OYIS0EWVXdOuswCLcBGAsYHQ/s499/51f42uWcUWL._SX328_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="cover of Caste" border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="330" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XDDxcDjDZNg/X7WBlGuF0bI/AAAAAAAAHn4/3gJaCTSM10kyY8vCI52OYIS0EWVXdOuswCLcBGAsYHQ/w265-h400/51f42uWcUWL._SX328_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" title="cover of Caste" width="265" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">After reading the book, I looked at some reviews. It wasn’t a shock to find a group
who thought that it is nonsense. It was no surprise to find that those
reviewers seem to have a place of privilege in the system—and that they don’t
seem to have thoroughly read the book. If they had, the story of Albert
Einstein fleeing Germany, and his subsequent championing of Marian Anderson,
the singer who could not stay in segregated hotels, might have hit home.
Einstein stated that as a Jew, he could understand and empathize with how black
people feel as the victims of discrimination. Einstein went on to take an
active part in NAACP efforts to end lynching and promote civil rights. If you
were unaware of that part of Einstein’s life, it’s a good illustration of the
need for a full history.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
cannot claim to fully understand what Black people go through, any more than
temporarily able-bodied people can claim to fully understand living with a disability. But
like Einstein, I do share with other people who live with disabilities an understanding of how discrimination works and how
it wastes human potential. We can all empathize and work with others to end
that waste. In that regard, this book is not the final word on that needed full
history, but it does provide a solid base for further work. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In my own field, people
with disabilities have long felt the described sanctions of caste. Divine authority is
shown in claims of a condition being the results of someone’s sin or lack of faith. This leads
to calls for submission to healers. There is also control of daily activities,
whether from lack of accommodation or inability to pay the high price of
suitable transportation. And the phrase “marriage equality” also rings with
overtones of control as meager benefits are cut or genetic purity is pursued. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Thinking
about those sanctions, Wilkerson brings up two points. First is that we are not
personally responsible for what people who look like us did centuries ago—but we
are responsible for what good or ill we do to people with us today. Theologically,
we are all responsible for treating others as we would like others to treat us.
Second, we don’t get to tell a person with a broken leg or a bullet wound that
they are or are not in pain. We should listen to the cry of those who are
suffering. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Disabled
people are also well aware of those who tell us what we need. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These would be the people who organize
telethons portraying us as people to be pitied, adorn us with childish terms
such as “special needs,” advocate against insurance coverage reform, call us an
“inspiration” and urge “overcoming,” and otherwise put us in a system requiring
that we are docile and submit to the system and don’t come up with ideas like
“nothing about us without us.” Disabled people are also familiar with
stratification structures that leave us behind. This book shows an important need not only in
race, but for disabilities, and especially for those caught in the intersection
of both.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> <i>Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from the Indianapolis Public Library, with a promise to return it within three weeks. That promise has been kept. </i></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><i><br /></i></o:p></span></p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8961579846798245560.post-38221116286708632642020-10-29T10:17:00.000-04:002020-10-29T10:17:01.316-04:00Doorkins Magnificat: Maybe I am welcome too<p>From time to time, I have been known to ask "where are the disaster theologians?" This question refers to the assorted preachers and politicians who are quick to interpret hurricanes or similar events as expressing divine judgment on America, usually for betrayal of their favorite non-biblically-based cause. The ability to find significance in such events is all the more curious for their way of overlooking other events, especially of the sort taken as signs and wonders in the books of the prophets.</p><p>Therefore, it is suitable that I acknowledge a convergence, and make some theological hay of it. October 29 is National Cat Day, and follows closely National Black Cat Day on 27 October. Hallowe'en with its inclusion of cats is only a couple of days away.</p><p>And linked to those is the cycle of creation. Archbishop James Ussher of Ireland is best-known for his chronology, worked out between 1650 and 1654, that set the first day of creation as the evening of 22 October 4004 BC. Although problematic in many respects, it is worth noting that his notion places us on this day in the midst of the arrival of animals and humans seeking companionship. So all of the signs and dates are upon us, even if slightly manufactured.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YjSYn1b7fI4/X5rFv8GIi2I/AAAAAAAAHmY/ZCj_l9OZrXMP9NMU0ibvMZ5L1jzTzyc3QCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/121834200_10160715633194466_7149006046376514250_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A cat sits in the aisle of a Gothic cathedral" border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YjSYn1b7fI4/X5rFv8GIi2I/AAAAAAAAHmY/ZCj_l9OZrXMP9NMU0ibvMZ5L1jzTzyc3QCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/121834200_10160715633194466_7149006046376514250_o.jpg" title="Southwark Cathedral, Facebook page" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Doorkins Magnificat, a resident of Southwark Cathedral in London, crossed the Rainbow Bridge on 30 September. Yesterday, she was remembered in a memorial service that celebrated creation, divine love, and, of course, cats and what their lives tell us about life; you can view the service <a href="https://www.facebook.com/62954914465/videos/762662304590454">here</a>. I also invite you to read this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/oct/28/much-loved-southwark-cathedral-cat-doorkins-magnificat-laid-to-rest">story of her life</a> and keep this line in mind: “She arrived, she entered and we made her welcome. People concluded that if this little cat is welcome, maybe I am too.” </p><p>Well done, good and faithful follower. Rest in purrfect peace.</p>Tim Vermandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890318026576984020noreply@blogger.com0