You're right when you say there is paternalistic chauvinism going on here -- and not just by some doctors.
There's certainly a ripe area for blogging here: how gender and disability intersect. I believe there's historical work done by feminists documenting how gender affects treatment received, e.g., the rights of a female patient being more easily brushed aside than the rights of a male patient.
At any rate I've learned a lot by reading the disabled bloggers' posts, and posts written by those with firsthand experience and knowledge of the lives of disabiled people. I think more of these viewpoints need to be engaged with directly by the online feminist community.
Our culture encourages us to view both the disabled and women as less than human. This news story demands that we self-interrogate our assumptions about both.
You're right when you say there is paternalistic chauvinism going on here -- and not just by some doctors.
There's certainly a ripe area for blogging here: how gender and disability intersect. I believe there's historical work done by feminists documenting how gender affects treatment received, e.g., the rights of a female patient being more easily brushed aside than the rights of a male patient.
At any rate I've learned a lot by reading the disabled bloggers' posts, and posts written by those with firsthand experience and knowledge of the lives of disabiled people. I think more of these viewpoints need to be engaged with directly by the online feminist community.
Our culture encourages us to view both the disabled and women as less than human. This news story demands that we self-interrogate our assumptions about both.
- Sour Duck