Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
14
Zones of Exclusion
1
The Experiences of Scottish Girls
HAZEL McFARLANE AND NANCY HANSEN
Geography and Disability in Context
Whether or not group membership is valued can have profound social and personal con-
sequences. Throughout history various racial, social, and religious groups have been
singled out as unacceptable (Young 1997). The disabled body, and within that context
the disabled female body, are often not seen as a “natural” part of the community (Asch
and Fine 1997). Indeed space has evolved largely in the absence of disabled people. Ex-
amining and reframing perceptions of women with disabilities blends well with the so-
cial citizenship understanding of Disability Studies. The reality of disability and impair-
ment in daily life is acknowledged and discussed without becoming fixated on medical
conditions. Community, education, and domestic spaces cannot be explored in isolation.
Moving beyond the arbitrary borders of public community spaces and private domestic
spaces, we are able to recognize linkages and elements that simultaneously impact all of
these spaces (Hansen 2002).
Geographical studies of everyday life are changing the field of disability studies. Geo-
graphers are escaping the rigid isolated disciplinary boxes of medical geography in favor
of a multidimensional approach that incorporates social and cultural aspects of human
geography. Scholars are examining embodied geographies of disability and impairment
moving well beyond individual incapacity and looking at wider social perceptions and
attitudes (Hansen 2002).
This chapter is part of a qualitative study exploring how disabled women's bodies are
understood, “normalized,” controlled, and excluded in terms of gender, sexuality, and
space from the perspectives of disabled women.
