"Disability is a Constructed Concept"; A Look at the Book 'Embodiment and Power'

Let’s start from within ourselves by reviewing our personal experiences and what we have learned from our surroundings, proverbs, poetry, stories, and perhaps even religious interpretations; how have we understood disability? As something frightening? A tragic and pitiable event? Or a common reality that, like all aspects of life, comes with its own challenges? The matter becomes significant when we consider disability not as something distant and imaginary, but rather keep in mind that 15% of the world's population, about one billion people, are engaged with various disabilities, both severe and mild. The United Nations refers to this group as the largest minority in the world, and the World Health Organization reminds us that of this number, disregarding children with disabilities, 110 to 190 million people have severe disabilities. How should our interaction with this population be? This is a key question that the book 'Embodiment and Power: Discussions on Disability and Social Transformation' attempts to address, providing a response that reflects several decades of the civil rights movement for people with disabilities and draws from the experiences of this movement, the teachings of the United Nations, and academic courses on 'disability studies'. The author, Saeed Sabzian, also looks at Iranian society and compares the status of people with disabilities in this society with international conventions and even with laws passed by the Islamic Consultative Assembly. What the 'healthism' society has constructed: Author: Saeed Sabzian / Publisher: Tavana Training Institute / The book is offered for free. The book begins with a jolt, a reminder to the reader that 'the existence of humans does not exist outside the perspective of being, and everything that exists is within a perspective', a perspective that depends on 'the range and type of emotional and knowledge-based information that has previously entered our minds', and this society based on 'healthism' has shaped most of our views on the issue of disability, a society that has set the standard and norm as 'healthy bodies' and marginalized the disabled by labeling them as 'abnormal'. In a sense, 'healthism' is a central concept in the book 'Embodiment and Power'. Just as in a system based on 'patriarchy', femininity becomes a passive condition, in a society based on 'healthism', individuals with disabilities also find themselves in a passive position and are sidelined from the division of labor and participation in social spheres with labels such as 'abnormal', 'non-normal', 'sick', 'disabled', and 'less capable', which contradicts the idea of social justice: 'Inclusive social justice means an economic and political system where the division of labor is based on the inclusion of everyone, regardless of their level of ability, and individuals are not excluded based on their beliefs or physical conditions.' (Embodiment and Power, pages 19 and 20) The perspective the author chooses to understand and define disability, while it may seem controversial, is principled, as he stands firm and emphasizes: 'Disability has been produced, not that it has existed.' The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities also supports this approach, stating in its early paragraphs (paragraph e): 'The member states of this convention... acknowledge that disability is a transformative concept and that disability arises from attitudes and the interaction of individuals with certain weaknesses with environmental barriers, and it is these barriers that prevent them from fully and effectively participating in society and achieving equal rights with others.' The book 'Embodiment and Power' explains that the limitations of a person with a disability are not in their body and mind but in the structure of society, as the healthism-based society presumes that all humans have equal vision, hearing, and mobility, and based on this, has shaped architectural patterns, urban planning, education, employment, and so on. Therefore, disability is 'a constructed and non-inherent existence and life created by the type of political, social, and cultural structures of societies'. With this perspective, if disability is a bleak and painful condition that leads the person with a disability and their family to a dead end, the fault should not be sought in that disabled individual and their disability, but rather in the laws and social patterns that have defined humanity based solely on the singular criterion of 'health' and ignored the needs of individuals with different abilities. Denial of medical and charitable models: The book offers serious critiques of both the medical and charitable models regarding the issue of disability. It rejects the medical model on the grounds that it promotes the normal-abnormal dichotomy in society, separate from the efforts and advancements in the medical field that undoubtedly contribute to the quality of human life. Criticism of the medical model in relation to disability is, in fact, 'a criticism of the injection of the concept of norm among people' in such a way that the medical model implies that something is deficient in the existence of disabled individuals, and if a disabled person does not conform to society, their disability and 'abnormality' are the source of the problem, not the constructed social models. The matter becomes clearer with a simpler example. Suppose the stairs of a building are an obstacle for a disabled person who uses a wheelchair. The medical model in facing this situation says that 'their deficiency is the cause of this issue, and they should be treated or given prosthetic legs.' The limitations of a person with a disability are not in their body and mind but in the structure of society, as the healthism-based society presumes that all humans have equal vision, hearing, and mobility, and based on this, has shaped architectural patterns, urban planning, education, employment, and so on. However, the social and human rights model, which stands in contrast to the medical and charitable models, sees the problem in the stairs and says, 'A ramp should be built, and the building should be made accessible.' Medicine can certainly help individuals with disabilities, but the issue is that society, under the influence of the medical model, sees humanity solely in terms of the 'health' of individuals, as we often witness that a disabled person is denied entry to school under the pretext of 'illness', is not entrusted with social responsibility, and is not employed. The United Nations, in its educational brochure on the rights of persons with disabilities, rules out the medical model and calls it a source of 'inequality': 'The medical model places a very heavy emphasis on the individual's weakness, which is considered a source of inequality. The needs and rights of the individual [with a disability] are reduced to treatment and care prescribed for the patient (or imposed on them)... In this approach, environmental conditions are not considered at all, and disability is perceived as a personal problem; individuals with disabilities are regarded as patients who must be corrected to return to a normal state...' (page 9 of the UN brochure) This brochure also warns about the consequences of the medical and charitable models, stating that by considering individuals with disabilities as 'objects of pity' or 'a problem to be solved', the burden of disability falls entirely on the shoulders of the disabled individual, and the discussion of social changes does not arise. At the same time, these models create certain norms that make it more difficult for individuals with disabilities to participate in society and enjoy their rights. 'Embodiment and Power' also targets the trivialization of the charitable-moral model, a trivialization that manifests itself in the form of pity for individuals with disabilities, so that in this model, the lives of individuals with disabilities are considered tragic. However, tragedy should not only be sought in the lives of the disabled. It is not wrong to say that the life of every human being, whether disabled or not, is intertwined with tragedy. This is why modern literature and art do not only seek out very special and unique people, as they touch upon the life of anyone and encounter the tragic. Thus, 'Embodiment and Power' can be considered one of the few Persian writings on disability that attempts to explain a human rights and social justice perspective on disability. The book refers to disability as 'one of the keywords of democracy in the West since the 1980s', as one cannot move towards democracy and social justice while ignoring such a large minority, as is the case in Iranian society. A positive aspect of the book 'Embodiment and Power' is its examination of the social conditions of individuals with disabilities in Iran and the search for the roots of injustice in urban architecture, the statements of officials, employment and education laws, and so on, so that the book is not merely a translation. Therefore, it can be assured that 'Embodiment and Power' is also reflective of Iranian society, a society with over 11 million individuals with disabilities.