I have, in my recent writings here, been trying to work towards a greater understanding of disability and what it means to be disabled – that is to say, to fall under the category of ‘person with a disability’. It seems to me that the area is extremely problematic, fraught with paradoxes and contradictions, which ultimately do not satisfy me. How, for example, can we be a subculture with such a flimsy central focus? We are, to my mind, a loose amalgam of people. I know we can only achieve our goals by sticking together, but wouldn’t this have an automatic ostracisation effect? By establishing an us, don’t we automatically establish a ‘them’, and wouldn’t this contradict our goal of inclusion?

I have tried, in my own way, to scratch away at these problems, trying to uncover what they mean, and my place in the world. To my mind, no idea is sacred – I want to question everything. The day we stop doing so is the day fascism reigns. Thus I will continue to questioning ‘our’ nature. I feel, however, that I must do this from my own standpoint: while it is true that a particular failing of mine is my lack of evidence, I would prefer to work things out based on my own experiences of life and logic. In other areas, I understand the value of the quotation and the footnote (the bread and butter of academic writing), yet with his I need to work it out for myself. The very fact that I have c.p gives me just as much right to talk on the subject as anyone else. Mind you, it wouldn’t hurt to go pester Mary the librarian some more…

During a spate of procrastination yesterday, I came across reference to a book called Gandhi Behind the Mask of Divinity written by US Army Colonel G. B. Singh, which purports to expose Gandhi as a racist. While some have called the book ”deeply disturbing” in its eagerness to sling mud, it reminds us that no idea is above criticism, not even the mahatma, and especially not disability philosophy.