\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Michael\nDavidson\u2019s \u201cUniversal Design: The\nWork of Disability in an Age of Globalization\u201d is a particularly relevant piece\nregarding current events. Davidson examines the intersectionality between\ndisability and globalization, and in doing so considers how disabled bodies\nbecome both part of public spaces, as well as being treated as public spaces.\nThe idea of disability being spatial is fascinating, not least because it removes\nthe, as Davidson points out, often moral associations of being disabled.\nDisability therefore becomes no longer a fault, but rather an inevitability\nbased on social and geographical positioning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Globalization is, at its essence, a game of wealth\nhoarding. The point of businesses developing international influence is\neffectively never for the sake of altruism, but rather to increase revenue.\nDavidson describes the \u201cactuarial value\u201d that is placed on disabled\npeople\u2014exemplified by the World Bank, but visible in daily life in a capitalist\nsociety\u2014and establishes that in the free market \u201cinternationalization of\nhealthcare creates\u2014rather than eliminates\u2014disability\u201d (121-122).\u00a0 Regarding the pandemic-sized elephant in the\nmetaphorical room, Davidson\u2019s writing drives at the fundamental issue with both\nglobalization and the treatment of the disabled community: those who are most\nat risk will, almost inescapably, will be left to fend for themselves. While a\ndisease does not have to be disabling, people with no support network are the\nones who will become disabled, whether that be physically or financially. To\ntie back in with the previous idea of disabled bodies being treated as public\nspaces available for use by society, the current pandemic panic reveals the\nlack of empathy for the disabled by treating the deaths of people with preexisting\nhealth conditions (such as respiratory issues, autoimmune disorders, and the\nsimple decline of advanced age) as being inevitable and relatively unconcerning.\nThat is to say that if only the sick and the old die, somehow, they are the sacrifice\nthat society is willing to make. Obviously not everyone in the general public\nfeels this way, but the general apathy that tends to be thrown about in regards\nto those most at risk is revealing, to say the least. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One criticism that can be made of Davidson\u2019s text is that he lacks what I would consider to be first hand accounts of the issues he\u2019s presenting. Most of the examples he provides are media examples, such as the films of Jibril Diop Membety, the film Kandahar<\/em>, and the tape cassette \u201cYiriba\u201d. He mentions the scandal with Bayer and tainted blood, as well as the traveling theaters in Africa that try to teach about the AIDS epidemic, but this lack of personal anecdotes leaves his writing to examine the performative views of disability, rather than the lived experiences of people with disabilities. The lack of first hand perspective, to me, removes some of Davidson\u2019s credibility. Davidson\u2019s view of disability is decidedly formed by the social model, which tends to view disability through a larger lens rather than focusing on the individual; disability is the fault of society, not any single person. While I do not believe that any of the points Davidson was making in terms of how disability relates to globalism, I do think the lack of individual experience outside of media is an oversight. While art often reflects reality, it is not the same thing. Describing the plot of Dirty Pretty Things<\/em> (2003), while harrowing and pertinent to Davidson\u2019s thesis, is not the personal account of someone who has been through the black-market organ trade. In some ways, Davidson\u2019s lack of first-hand accounts is reminiscent of the removal of disabled voices from disability studies by focusing on stories about disabled people rather than stories told by disabled people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One criticism that can be made of Davidson\u2019s text is that he lacks what I would consider to be first hand accounts of the issues he\u2019s presenting. Most of the examples he provides are media examples, such as the films of Jibril Diop Membety, the film Kandahar<\/em>, and the tape cassette \u201cYiriba\u201d. He mentions the scandal with Bayer and tainted blood, as well as the traveling theaters in Africa that try to teach about the AIDS epidemic, but this lack of personal anecdotes leaves his writing to examine the performative views of disability, rather than the lived experiences of people with disabilities. The lack of first hand perspective, to me, removes some of Davidson\u2019s credibility. Davidson\u2019s view of disability is decidedly formed by the social model, which tends to view disability through a larger lens rather than focusing on the individual; disability is the fault of society, not any single person. While I do not believe that any of the points Davidson was making in terms of how disability relates to globalism, I do think the lack of individual experience outside of media is an oversight. While art often reflects reality, it is not the same thing. Describing the plot of Dirty Pretty Things<\/em> (2003), while harrowing and pertinent to Davidson\u2019s thesis, is not the personal account of someone who has been through the black-market organ trade. In some ways, Davidson\u2019s lack of first-hand accounts is reminiscent of the removal of disabled voices from disability studies by focusing on stories about disabled people rather than stories told by disabled people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I Pledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Word count: 610<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Michael Davidson\u2019s \u201cUniversal Design: The Work of Disability in an Age of Globalization\u201d is a particularly relevant piece regarding current events. Davidson examines the intersectionality between disability and globalization, and in doing so considers how disabled bodies become both part of public spaces, as well as being treated as public spaces. The idea of … Continue reading “Tara’s Short Reading Response to Michael Davidson’s “Universal Design””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[151,152,143,153],"class_list":["post-1862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-davidson","tag-reading-response","tag-short-reading-response-2","tag-universal-design"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcJhts-u2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1863,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions\/1863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}