Every day, more and more people come into a disability. Whether they’re born with an extra chromosome, develop anxiety from the stresses of the world, or needing to amputate a limb due to an injury; disability is present all around us today. With this omnipresence of disability, one would think that deformities and disabilities would be generally accepted. That assumption would be wrong in our current society. In today’s community, disability is viewed as an outlier, a deviation from the norm (Davis 6). If someone were to walk by a man in a wheelchair on the street, they would stare and gawk as though his incapability to walk made him a freak of nature; anything but a human being. But, the disabled are still people. They can empathize with others, they can still function in society in many different ways, and they can contribute to the world around them. Better yet, they can want to contribute to the world that they live in to make meaning of their existence. If they lack the ability to do so, there are programs that can teach and rehabilitate the disabled to help them to learn for the very first time or relearn skills that would allow them to do what they can to pitch into their society. Our differences o not make us any more or less human. Being different is a part of being human.
A part of being human is the ability to empathize with others. Empathy follows any and every tragedy in one way or another. Tim Recuber points out that empathy is what drives “efforts at social justice”. Recuber notes a personal experience following the Orlando shooting at the Pulse nightclub. “I experienced an intense form of empathy for the victims and their families… I read the news from a position of safety and security, but still felt that empty pit in my stomach…” (What Becomes of Empathy?). Tim sno relations nor any connections to anyone impacted by the shooting and yet his heart goes out toward the victims and their families. Why? Because he is a full functioning human being? No. Because he is a human being.
Philip K. Dick defines being human by characters’ ability to empathize in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. In the novel, androids are disguising themselves as humans. The only way to tell the ever advancing technology that is the Nexus-6 line of androids from humans is their ability to empathize, or lack thereof. An examination called the Voight-Kampff Empathy Test would be given to those suspected of being an android via a series of questions designed to trigger one’s empathy. If one were to fail the examination, they were assumed to be an android. But sometimes, a “special” would fail the exam (Dick).
“Specials” of Dick’s world in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep are those that have been impacted by the radiation. They are considered “disabled” because they have become genetically defective from their exposure to the radiation. Their intelligence may be deteriorated or other such abnormalities can develop, thus a medical examination will label them as a “special” (Dick). In today’s society there are numerous conditions where one’s ability to empathize is diminished such as Narcissistic Personality Disorder or sociopathic tendencies but they can go unnoticed in society when managed properly. Recuber explains that being able to identify with other humans creates a special connection, a bond, between all humans, no matter their physical distance (What Becomes of Empathy?). A sense of understanding develops across the miles of land and sea.
However, there is no sense of understanding in Dick’s fictitious world between the specials and those who remain unaffected by the radioactive dust. Specials are portrayed as outcasts due to their tainted genetics, below average IQ scores, and on occasion, an inability to empathize. These specials are sterilized and no longer have the opportunity to immigrate to the radiation free colonies on Mars. The specials may be below average in terms of intelligence but they are still people. Isidore, a special in Dick’s novel, can still function in society well enough to support himself. He held a job for a time and his “condition” was only evident through a stutter. An open display of being human by empathizing in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is to care for an animal. Isidore, for a short period of time, cared for a spider and was mortified when his companion began to mutilate it. Yes, Isidore the special, the disabled, doesn’t conform to the norm of society but he is still a functioning asset of the human population.
Those who face disablement may not view their impairment as a disability but rather as a minor difference. Lennard Davis opens his chapter on “Constructing Normalcy” by emphasizing that “the ‘problem’ is not the person with disabilities; the problem is the way that normalcy is constructed to create the ‘problem’ of the disabled person” (Davis 3). Sunaura Taylor has arthrogryposis and she has adapted to her condition in many ways. While she is wheelchair bound she can still function in society, just with a different approach than those who are not “disabled”. Her joints do not work normally so she has trouble picking things up but that does not stop her. When she goes to a coffee shop, she can pick up her cup with her mouth since she doesn’t have the necessary ability to do so with her hands. She can also ask for assistance to bring her cup to her table or she could get a tool that could help her carry things (Examined Life).
There are many other prevalent disabilities in today’s society; blindness and deafness are just two of the many conditions. Those who have issues with their hearing or vision can get implants and surgeries to correct their “problems” or they can learn to adapt to their conditions. The people with hearing impairments can learn to read lips instead of relying on their auditory sense. Those with vision impairments can learn to read by touch and to navigate their world by sound and touch by developing a skill similar to echolocation.
Many people believe that the disabled couldn’t possibly contribute to the world but they are wrong. Those who are blind could become exemplary telephone operators or a position that involves the use of touch and hearing to be completed effectively. Those who are deaf could become fantastic visual editors or writers. The disabled can always learn to take their disability and turn the side effects into a positive. They can “develop abilities that other people lack” and thus they can balance out the disadvantages of their condition with these abilities (Bognar 47).
There are an almost infinite amount of different forms of rehabilitation and treatment for different handicaps across the globe. People can be taught to walk on prosthetics and can learn how to formulate speech; basic skills necessary to navigate in today’s society. Those who can’t do or learn these sorts of tasks are often looked down upon because they are “different”; they are defective. Having a disability shouldn’t impair one’s ability to be a human being and contribute to society but rather it should change the approach to the contribution. Isidore was an exemplary human being in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? who does his best to take part in his community. Being human is about doing your best to be an asset to society and to always strive to be a better person.
The disabled are still people, whether they are emotionally, mentally, or physically handicapped. While they are technically classified as people, they are still viewed as different, as not normal; as sub-human. Lennard Davis says in “Constructing Normalcy” that the problem is not the person but rather the way that normalcy is defined in context to the ideal in society (4). What Davis is saying is that the concept of the norm is what is labeling the person as a problem, as different. The person is still considered a human being but they are different; an outlier on the bell curve of the human norm (6). Davis references that “deviations mor or less great from the [average] have constituted ugliness in body as well as vice in morals and a state of sickness with regard to the constitution” (5). So, this concept of the norm is what sets apart those with disabilities or differences from the average person.
Being human involves a cognitive decision on whether or not to try. It is up to the individual to employ their ability to contribute to their society. Greg Bognar points out that disability can impact quality of life and not just be a mild inconvenience that can be overcome. There are medical conditions that can cause constant agonizing pain, making life seem not worth living (46). This stigma does not come from the outside source of society but from within the disabled person. Bognar goes on to acknowledge possible arguments such as the disabled not feeling at a disadvantage and that it is those who do not share the condition that consider the disabled as afflicted. He also describes how those facing disability can adapt to their disability. With this acknowledgment, he goes on to differentiate that some conditions cannot be adapted to but all disabilities can be adjusted to (46-47). Bognar concludes that disability is simply another part of human characteristics such as gender and race. Just like of characteristics that cannot be controlled, there is discrimination and prejudice towards the disabled just as there is towards females and other similar case (48).
Bognar never hit back on the point that the disabled may feel that their disability isn’t just a mild setback but rather something not worth living through. There is still a conscious decision that has to be made in this regard. The disabled person is allowing their self to lose hope for a possible treatment or cure for their condition. They can hold onto that hope and can lead by example for those with similar or the same condition or they can give up and cast another shadow over the debilitating condition that they had been fighting. Treatment is a two way street. There is the one way for the doctors and the physical treatment and the other way is for the disabled to keep heart. If the disabled person just accepts that they are going to die then their body will not fight as hard to survive and the attempts at treatment may prove less effective. These tough decisions and actions are all a part of being human. Choosing to fight through and adapt to the disability is just the same as fighting through a hardship in everyday life.
The disabled may be viewed as deviations from the norm and thus different and unapproachable. Empathy bridges the gap between all human beings. If an able bodied person were to actively empathize with their fellow humans, they’d be able to understand their plight and make the world more welcoming to the disabled. The disabled will not be viewed as freaks of nature but as the human beings that they are. Their efforts to participate and contribute to society will become more welcome and the world would be much better at understanding its patrons. The world will be better with the disabled’s different abilities and a stronger community will be forged. Humanity and empathy will unite the world into one.
Works Cited
Bognar, Greg. “Is Disability Mere Difference?” J Med Ethics, vol. 42, no. 1, 2015, pp. 46-49.
Davis, Lennard J. “Constructing Normalcy: The Bell Curve, the Novel, and the Invention of the Disabled Body in the Nineteenth Century.” The Disability Studies Reader, Routledge, New York, 2006.
Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Ballantine Books, 1996.
“Examined Life – Judith Butler & Sunaura Taylor 720p.avi.” YouTube, uploaded by 黃小竹, 6 Oct. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HZaPkF6qE.
Recuber, Tim. “What Becomes of Empathy?” Cyborgology, 20 July 2016. www.thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2016/07/20/what-becomes-of-empathy/. Accessed 1 Sept. 2016.
