HUMN1053 Diversity Language and Culture Assignment Sample

Introduction - HUMN1053 Diversity Language and Culture Assignment

An individual’s body and mind and how people in modern societies are expected to look like, think, and act due to such constructs, are key ideas that are apparent in most of societies. These dominant standards that continue to dominate are normalized within neoliberal frameworks, leading to the opposition of ‘normal’ and ‘other’. This affects everyone, especially the ones who do not meet those standards. This essay analyses such dominant standards and the effects on people whose bodies and/or minds differ from the ‘norm’. The example used here is the neurodiversity movement; following the arguments from the readings and/or lecture notes on body & mind diversity.

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Main Discussion

Dominant Standards in Neoliberal Societies

Neoliberalism, with its broken promises of individual freedom, market values, and limited government interference, sets the trends for judging body and mind. Such structures of neoliberal culture as individualism, work ethic, and adaptation identify with established norms and standards. In this regard, Richardson (2005) opined that neoliberalism fosters the ‘reasonable self’ which conforms to norms of embodying health, employment suitability, and mental capacity; those who do not fit within these idealised norms are constructed as ‘them’, the powerless or the ‘other’ who must be fit into the mainstream economy. This ideology runs deep through the medical and educational institutions where persons with neurodiverse conditions or body structural differences are diagnosed and labelled as inadequate instead of unique. For example, the ‘autism-as-disorder’ framework is rooted in a biogenetic paradigm that medically and socially marginalizes neurodivergent people (Bourdieu, n.d.). Indeed, autism like other conditions was traditionally viewed as a disease that requires fixing; thus, it reflects a neoliberal approach that aims at ‘adjusting’ the people who do not fit the neoliberal paradigm of rational, liberal subjects ready to participate in the market economy(Ball, 2017).

The Neurodiversity Movement: Challenging Dominant Ideals

The neurodiversity movement provides a different perspective to this dominant culture: there is nothing wrong with those differences or how the brains of neurodiverse individual’s function. As a political concept formulated by Judy Singer in 1999, neurodiversity has proposed a shift in politics of identity to embrace autism and other neurological disorders as valuable forms of human variety (Goodley, 2014). This movement claims there is no need to find a cure for autism since it is a diversity that adds value to human relativity. For these reasons, some writers like Temple Grandin believe that persons with neurodivergent can be of great value to society because they have different cognitive processing and perception of reality. The neurodiversity movement, in contrast to the medical model of thinking of autism and similar conditions as a set of deficits, calls for a celebration of neurodivergent people’s strengths: improved pattern recognition or better focus, which would come in handy in some positions. Nevertheless, the movement encounters numerous difficulties that exist in a neoliberal culture that values compliance and efficiency. The “autism-as-difference” framework has not entirely replaced the “autism-is-a-disorder” framework and the politics of ‘autism identities may slow the process of eradicating the dichotomy that ‘neoliberalism feeds from’ (Shildrick, 2013).

Impacts on Individuals with Neurodivergent Conditions and Diverse Bodies

People who do not fit the cultural norms of body and mind experience major postpones such as social isolation, marginalization, and objectification besides unfavourable mental health effects. These dominant standards which are more or less neoliberal, dictate a normative/deviant split that disadvantage queer subjects. Lower and Smith (2019) have found out that for neurodivergent individuals and people with body diversity, achievement of normative embodied subjectivity comes with a cost in social integration and subjective well-being. The effect that is most evident in cases with individual offenders’ involvement is social isolation. Persons with neurodiverse conditions including autism have difficulties in becoming fully included in educational and employment systems, and social interactions. The process of medicalisation of neurodivergence especially under the neoliberal paradigm ensures that these states are perceived as disorders that require adjustment(Beeckmans, 2014). This has resulted in social exclusion where failure to fit into the neurotypical practices is seen as a lack of ability to meet the societal norms in schools and workplaces. For instance, many neurodivergent people struggle in situations that require strict adherence to cultural conventions, including eye contact, taking turns in conversation, and perceiving information in conventional manners. For this reason, such people can be boxed out or socially erased from various contexts of power due to the assumptions of their unfitness to ‘belong’ which not only results in limited opportunities for them but also sustains the construction of otherness(Loutzenheiser & Erevelles, 2019). Likewise, body difference is another element of identity that is all too often socially rejected. Those who do not fit into the normal standards of beauty such as weight, height, colour, and disability are discriminated against and discriminated. Increases in the number of social media platforms and mainstream media, which constantly portray only certain types of bodies, continue to support this view. These ideals, promoted by consumer culture and neoliberal market logic, define the bodies as worthy of being put on display when they are compliant with the prevailing standards of beauty. This reiteration of prejudice makes them strangers in society and constantly reminds people with different body types that they are considered ‘lesser’ and unworthy of love, especially if they are unable to conform to traditional ideals of beauty and physical prowess(Shakespeare, 2006). The other way through which neurodivergy and differently-abled population is erased is through commodification. Neoliberal societies that are concerned with qualities such as marketability and productivity reduce people’s worth to their economic worth. This is because people with neurodiverse traits or learning disabilities which include Autism are only considered useful when they can be classified as products or utilizable. For example, the tech industry may reward an individual with autism for their abilities such as focus and attention to detail, so long as those are used to increase efficiency. Anybody who is not in a position to produce the level of productivity that is expected of them, is made to feel that they are useless, and are therefore shooed out of the society creating more credibility to the belief that worth is equal to productiveness. One overly applicable theory that assist to articulate these effects is the theory of social capital as systematically elucidated by Pierre Bourdieu (Bhandari & Yasunobu, 2009). In the words of Bourdieu social capital denotes the sum of actual or potential resources by virtue of membership in a group; it can be power resources, means of consumption, or cultural reproduction. Social capital links with the capacity to adhere to norms and expectations in a society including the aspects of body image and mental health. Persons with neurodiversity and body diversity do not have the forms of Social Capital that are imperative for survival in a conformist society. For this reason, the members of such groups cannot acquire the networks of contacts, the opportunities for gaining a job, and appreciation in society (Lin, 2002).

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that Ideals of body and mind based on neo-liberalism persist profoundly as regulative norms for those who fail to fit normative gender/sexual templates. The neurodiversity movement with a focus on the acceptance of neuro-difference in terms of normality is a positive shift. Nevertheless, it fails to go far enough in challenging neoliberalism’s construction of ‘us’ against ‘them’ since it has a strong, identity politics undercurrent. Stigmatization, objectification, and poor mental health are some of the effects realized through neurodiverse situations and body features.

References

• Ball, S. J. (2017). Laboring to Relate: Neoliberalism, Embodied Policy, and Network Dynamics. Peabody Journal of Education, 92(1), 29–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956x.2016.1264802
• Beeckmans, R. (2014). Alison Kafer, Feminist Queer Crip (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2013), pp. 258, ISBN: 9780253009340, £16.99, paperback. Studies in the Maternal, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.16995/sim.11
• Bhandari, H., & Yasunobu, K. (2009). What is Social Capital? A Comprehensive Review of the Concept. Asian Journal of Social Science, 37(3), 480–510. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853109x436847
• Bourdieu, P. (n.d.). The Forms of Capital by Pierre Bourdieu 1986. https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/bourdieu-forms-capital.htm
• Goodley, D. (2014). Dis/ability studies: theorising disablism and ableism. Choice Reviews Online, 52(04), 52–2284. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.186292
• Lin, N. (2002). Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action. Cambridge University Press.
• Loutzenheiser, L. W., & Erevelles, N. (2019). ‘What’s Disability Got To Do With It?’: Crippin’ Educational Studies at the Intersections. Educational Studies, 55(4), 375–386. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2019.1630131
• Shakespeare, T. (2006). Disability Rights and Wrongs. In Routledge eBooks. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203640098
• Shildrick, M. (2013). Critical disability studies: rethinking the conventions for the age of postmodernity. In Routledge eBooks (pp. 44–55). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203144114-9

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