'I'd Rather Be Dead than Disabled' — The Ableist Conflation and the Meanings of Disability

Joel Michael Reynolds (2017) “I’d Rather Be Dead Than Disabled”—The Ableist Conflation and the Meanings of Disability, Review of Communication, 17:3, 149-163, DOI: 10.1080/15358593.2017.1331255

17 Pages Posted: 13 Mar 2018

See all articles by Joel Michael Reynolds

Joel Michael Reynolds

Georgetown University - Department of Philosophy; Georgetown University - Kennedy Institute of Ethics; The Greenwall Foundation; The Hastings Center

Date Written: June 16, 2017

Abstract

Despite being assailed for decades by disability activists and disability studies scholars spanning the humanities and social sciences, the medical model of disability — which conceptualizes disability as an individual tragedy or misfortune due to genetic or environmental insult — still today structures many cases of patient–practitioner communication. Synthesizing and recasting work done across critical disability studies and philosophy of disability, I argue that the reason the medical model of disability remains so gallingly entrenched is due to what I call the “ableist conflation” of disability with pain and suffering. In an effort to better equip healthcare practitioners and those invested in health communication to challenge disability stigma, discrimination, and oppression, I lay out the logic of the ableist conflation and interrogate examples of its use. I argue that insofar as the semiosis of pain and suffering is structured by the lived experience of unwelcome bodily transition or variation, experiences of pain inform the ableist conflation by preemptively tying such variability and its attendant disequilibrium to disability. I conclude by discussing how philosophy of disability and critical disability studies might better inform health communication concerning disability, offering a number of conceptual distinctions toward that end.

Keywords: Disability, Health Communication, Patient-Provider Communication, Ableism, Stigma, Bioethics

Suggested Citation

Reynolds, Joel Michael, 'I'd Rather Be Dead than Disabled' — The Ableist Conflation and the Meanings of Disability (June 16, 2017). Joel Michael Reynolds (2017) “I’d Rather Be Dead Than Disabled”—The Ableist Conflation and the Meanings of Disability, Review of Communication, 17:3, 149-163, DOI: 10.1080/15358593.2017.1331255, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3119942

Joel Michael Reynolds (Contact Author)

Georgetown University - Department of Philosophy ( email )

149 Old N Way
Washington, DC 20007
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/0031Q00002G0rLMQAZ/joel-michael-reynolds

Georgetown University - Kennedy Institute of Ethics ( email )

Box 571212
Healy Hall 4th Flr
Washington, DC 20057-1212
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://kennedyinstitute.georgetown.edu/people/joel-michael-reynolds-phd/

The Greenwall Foundation ( email )

650 Massachusetts Ave NW
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20001
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://greenwall.org/faculty-scholars-program/our-faculty-scholars/joel-reynolds-phd

The Hastings Center ( email )

Garrison, NY 10524
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.thehastingscenter.org/team/joel-michael-reynolds/

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
191
Abstract Views
1,313
Rank
285,137
PlumX Metrics