It’s F***ing Wonderful Being Disabled

Most people, the Existentialists tell us, would rather not think about the difficult things in life – pain and contradiction and the fact that one day they’re going to die. In order to avoid having to deal with these, and to avoid having to think for themselves about the limitations of their own existence, they would rather go along with the crowd, the ‘They’. Conventionality and conformity to the roles and expectations bestowed upon them – being caught up in the routines, the business, the plans, the distractions and amusements of everyday life – allow people to avoid having to reflect, and to pass through life having a reasonably comfortable time of it. The only problem with this, say the Existentialists, is its inauthenticity. The Existentialists draw on the Socratic dictum that an unreflected life is one not worth living. Arguing against the mainstream view which holds that impairment can only be experienced as useless difference, I would like to argue that living with impairment requires us to live for real, or at least presents us with an opportunity to do so. Reflecting on impairment allows us to engage with an understanding of our own limitations. Reflecting on being disabled reminds us of our not-at-homeness. Embracing impairment involves a practice of the knowledge of our own finitude, and allows us to become authentic in the way we relate to life. Identifying positively as disabled involves us in rejecting falling in with the opinions of the ‘They’. We do not resent or aspire to be cured of impairment, but instead affirm impairment. An Existential understanding of impairment and disability saves us from inauthenticity. It requires us to recognise the absurdity both of our own situations and of the conventionality surrounding us, and to make our own meaning and purpose.