12:19am May 24, 2014

➸ Tangled In the Invisibility Cloak: Presentation for the Queer Disability 2002 conference, June 2002.

But although there are a variety of definitions of “disability” floating around out there, I am aware of none in which a wheelchair is a disability. A wheelchair is a tool. But the reason people think Jane has a visible disability is that she has a visible wheelchair. In fact the identification of visible tool with visible disability is so strong that I suspect that every night when Jane gets into bed her disability magically becomes invisible.

Unfortunately, I have not yet convinced a single wheelchair user to let me bring research subjects into their bedroom at night to test my hypothesis.
I don’t believe that there is any such thing as invisible disability. For that matter, I don’t believe in visible disability, apparent disability, or non-apparent disability.

(Yeah, I can’t believe they let me on this panel either.)

On the other hand I do believe that there is something that is often called “invisible disability”, and I’m struggling to find the right vocabulary to talk about it. This week, I’m calling it “unrecognized disability”. At least “unrecognized”, unlike “non-apparent” or “invisible” or the loathsome “hidden” seems to suggest that seeing or recognizing disability is something that somebody does. Visibility and invisibility are not inherent properties of disability.

Another one by Cal Montgomery on why “invisible disability” doesn’t work, also dealing with queerness. The full article is long but well worth reading.