I recently became embroiled in an internet forum argument when I pointed out, in respect of people posting memes, that I found them difficult to parse and distracting. I explained this was a result of neuro diversity. What then ensued was a lesson in the politics of oppression.
People with disabilities, or in my case neurodiverse (I shall conflate the two for the purpose of this post), are marginalised. That much is obvious. Our society makes few allowances for and offers little understanding of disability, except in tokenistic terms when it suits to do so (such as DWP fit notes). Disabled people have to work harder to fit in to society in all sorts of ways, not just physically. Furthermore we have seen many examples, increasing over the last period of austerity, of disability hate and even physical assault.
I don't think it much to ask that a forum make the effort to accommodate people by not shitposting these memes in every discussion. Unfortunately people disagreed. If I didn't feel comfortable then I could just 'ignore' them. Ignoring the problematic behaviour just normalises and allows it to continue while placing a burden on the individual to moderate their behaviour as the victim. This is obviously unfair, and can be unreasonable. Expecting the bullied child to just 'ignore' the bully can be extremely difficult - what if they can't manage it? Does that make the bullying acceptable.
Unfortunately these responses do nothing but reinforce the hierarchy that exists behind the oppression. Of course there are varying degrees of oppression - a silly pic on a forum is clearly not the equal of physical abuse - but the word serves the purpose. It is still emblematic of negative attitudes which should be challenged in order to be removed.
It was made clear, in the forum, that discussion of politics was unacceptable. However politics is in everything, which makes discussing oppression and ableism particularly difficult. It is intrinsically political because it deals with hierarchies of power. By suppressing that discussion and explanation you are not only reinforcing the oppression once again, you are also making a political statement. if you run a forum wherein you have a 'no politics' policy that is ongoing (as it would have to be presumably), then you are continually making a political statement, and you are continuing to marginalise.
Finally, I'm tired.
Tired of the endless fucking gaslighting from DWP work programme providers. Tired of trying voluntarily to engage with these organisations, and others. Without fail, every time, they turn out to mess me around, and yet who else is there that can offer help? I've had to repeatedly email back Fedcap employment. Despite having an email trail, they don't seem to remember ever having spoken to me. They seem to be treating me as a completely new case and have asked me to fill in a form that gives them permission to share my data (whatever that constitutes) with the DWP and keeps the DWP in the loop. I asked them about this in the first place because I don't want my benefit being affected if I decide I no longer wish to work with them. That form isn't even one the customer is meant to fill in, it's for the Fedcap caseworker. I gave them my phone number and told them to ring me.
I'm so fucking tired of this gaslighting shit. I don't get to speak to people and right now I have nowhere to go. I wanted this to work, and maybe it still can. There are no other services available. This area is bereft at the best of times. But yet again, it's another tax payer funded shit show.
No comments:
Post a Comment