When is a difference a disability? (Part 3)

Signmark is a Finnish hip hop artist with a world-wide following.  That is unusual enough.  He is also the first deaf artist signed to a major recording label.  If you are wondering, "How in the world does that work?", check out the short documentary video below.  At the 11 minute mark in the documentary, the narrator asks,  "Is deafness a disability, or something else?"  Signmark replies,

"My only aid, really, is an interpreter. But interpreting is still language; it's not an aide per se. If you knew sign language, I wouldn't need an interpreter here, right? So, am I disabled, or just a linguistic minority?"

Clearly, Signmark does identify with the term disabled to some extent.  He has been designated by the Finnish government as a special representative for disabled people, and he been part of the working group for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).  That document has a definition of disability which I find very interesting.  It states that:

Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.

It is the "in interaction with" part that really grabs me.  

It has only been in the last few years that I have come to appreciate the importance of external barriers to the concept of disability.  Prior to that, I had considered disability mostly through a medical model  that sees disability as a defective characteristic of the individual in need of fixing or therapy.  The United Nations definition, however, draws from a social model of disability, rather than a medical model.  In this model, disability is recognized as the consequence of the interaction of the individual with an environment that does not accommodate that individual’s differences.  

From Training Package on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Disability/Pages/TrainingmaterialCRPDConvention_OptionalProtocol.aspx

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Training Guide provides a couple of illustrative examples of how this might play out:

• Being in a wheelchair (personal factor) combined with living in a city with accessible buildings (environmental factor) leads to participation in the community on the same terms as someone who is not in a wheelchair: there is little or no disability.
• Having an intellectual impairment (personal factor) combined with a belief in the community that persons with intellectual disabilities lack the capacity to vote (negative environmental factor) leads to exclusion from society and denial of the right to vote: there is a disability.

This perspective is particularly important within the education system because we are not a medical institution designed to diagnose and treat medical conditions. We are, however, a social institution, and we have a fair amount of control over the physical and social environment. We can identify barriers to full social participation and work to remove them. These disabling barriers might include the school facilities themselves, the attitudes of students or staff at the school, the rules and procedures for doing things (fire drills, assemblies, etc.), the classroom environment, or even the instructional methods, materials, and goals set out by the teacher.  

In the video below, David Rose of CAST  describes how curricula itself can be as disabled. This is also described in the document, What Does It Mean to Say that Curricula are Disabled? at the National Center on Universal Design for Learning website.

Signmark knows those barriers well.  He tells about the scorn he has received from hearing Finnish artists whom he says have resented his success. He also says that back in high school, when he expressed his desire to be an artist, all his teacher could say to him was,

"I understand you have dreams; I understand you have passion.  And I think that's great, but... you also need to understand and accept that you are deaf."

I would guess that his teacher had all the best intentions in giving him this counsel.  Sometimes it is hard to imagine how the barriers we face can be removed, and to believe that dreams and passion can be enough.  It must have been difficult to see how the education system could support him in achieving those dreams.  In fact, it is true that sometimes individual passion and dreams are not enough unless there are others working to support those dreams and help to remove or overcome barriers.

By this, I do not mean to diminish the determination and creativity that Signmark has displayed. He describes how the resistance he encountered has helped to strengthen his resolve, and this attitude was likely a critical factor in his success. The fact that he has been able to have a career and tour the world, however, is likely also due, at least in part, to the support and encouragement needed to overcome the barriers. In the video, for example, we see him working closely with his collaborator, Brandon, and we hear about the support he has received from the Finnish government and the United Nations.

In fact, if it is true that disability is one possible result of the interaction between personal and environmental factors, it is also true that successful development of ability is the other possible result.  As an educator, I may not have control over all the factors, but I need to be aware of those which I can control and to deliberately use them to help all of my students develop their abilities. 

In the end, Signmark's passion for hip hop, his desire to be an artist, and his determination to achieve his dreams are personal factors that have turned out to be every bit as important as his hearing impairment.  His career shows how a personal factor such as an impairment is not a disability in and of itself unless the environment is unable to accommodate that difference.  

So is it then the person or the environment that is "disabled"?