Ableism
Stephen Hawking died one week ago. He was undoubtedly a very good physicist who made very important contributions to his field of research. He was also an extraordinary human being with an admirable resilience that allowed him to pursue the entirety of his career after being diagnosed with a disease that was expected to kill him in a few years and, even when it did not (he went on to live more than 50 years after diagnosis), left him almost completely paralysed, unable to speak, walk, move his hands, etc. One of his greatest abilities as a scientist was to understand complex, abstract concepts in a relatively simple way. It was this ability that not only helped him to make ground-breaking discoveries in the mathematically challenging field of gravitation, but also to write one of the best selling popular science books of all time. It was the popularity of A brief history of time that would eventually turn Hawking into a household name.
People with a disability, like Stephen Hawking, often suffer the consequences of deeply ingrained prejudices against disability. One of the most prevalent of these prejudices is that a person with a specific disability is expected to have his/her other abilities severely impaired. For example, people in wheelchairs are often treated as if they have learning disabilities. Blind people, despite their recognized good hearing abilities, are not expected to excel in music. A deaf person will be called inspirational if she succeeds in running a marathon. The examples go on and on. Needless to say, it is not a bad thing to be called inspirational and have ones achievements excessively recognized. The problem for every human being with a disability who has ever achieved anything, however small, in his life, is that this excessive recognition is only the tip of the iceberg that hides underwater how many opportunities this same person has lost to the prejudice of others. How many times: parents resign themselves that his son or daughter will never amount to much, teachers demand less, under-evaluate or recommend less ambitious career paths, prospective bosses turn down job applications even when the disability has no effect whatsoever in the person's ability to do the actual job she is applying for?
Paradoxically, Stephen Hawking succeeded in avoiding many of the pitfalls of his disability and to turn its weaknesses into strength. Partly, he was helped by the fact that he grew up as a perfectly abled person and his disability only started to show its first symptoms after he had already graduated from university and started his PhD studies. By the time he was severely disabled, he was already a renowned scientist and was able to continue his career after receiving special medical treatment that due to its high costs would not have been available to him otherwise. But, it is mostly to his own credit that Hawking owes his achievements. To his stubbornness, perseverance, resilience and high self esteem. Before his diagnosis, Hawking was not a good student, often preferring socializing with friends to course work. But after his diagnosis, he was too depressed to go on with his studies for only a brief time and soon found the strength to reverse his destiny. No longer able to pursue the activities he had once preferred to his studies, he focused completely on them. The rest his history.
A history that is very badly told. The general consensus is that he was the greatest genius of his time. The reality was that his achievements are a lot more modest and it is disputable whether he was even among the best one hundred scientist of the second half of the twentieth century. His entire reputation among the laypeople and even among scientist his strictly due to ableism. I do admire the man and his work, but I am absolutely morally disgusted by the undeserved adulation that is devoted to him. There, I had to get this out of my chest.
People with a disability, like Stephen Hawking, often suffer the consequences of deeply ingrained prejudices against disability. One of the most prevalent of these prejudices is that a person with a specific disability is expected to have his/her other abilities severely impaired. For example, people in wheelchairs are often treated as if they have learning disabilities. Blind people, despite their recognized good hearing abilities, are not expected to excel in music. A deaf person will be called inspirational if she succeeds in running a marathon. The examples go on and on. Needless to say, it is not a bad thing to be called inspirational and have ones achievements excessively recognized. The problem for every human being with a disability who has ever achieved anything, however small, in his life, is that this excessive recognition is only the tip of the iceberg that hides underwater how many opportunities this same person has lost to the prejudice of others. How many times: parents resign themselves that his son or daughter will never amount to much, teachers demand less, under-evaluate or recommend less ambitious career paths, prospective bosses turn down job applications even when the disability has no effect whatsoever in the person's ability to do the actual job she is applying for?
Paradoxically, Stephen Hawking succeeded in avoiding many of the pitfalls of his disability and to turn its weaknesses into strength. Partly, he was helped by the fact that he grew up as a perfectly abled person and his disability only started to show its first symptoms after he had already graduated from university and started his PhD studies. By the time he was severely disabled, he was already a renowned scientist and was able to continue his career after receiving special medical treatment that due to its high costs would not have been available to him otherwise. But, it is mostly to his own credit that Hawking owes his achievements. To his stubbornness, perseverance, resilience and high self esteem. Before his diagnosis, Hawking was not a good student, often preferring socializing with friends to course work. But after his diagnosis, he was too depressed to go on with his studies for only a brief time and soon found the strength to reverse his destiny. No longer able to pursue the activities he had once preferred to his studies, he focused completely on them. The rest his history.
A history that is very badly told. The general consensus is that he was the greatest genius of his time. The reality was that his achievements are a lot more modest and it is disputable whether he was even among the best one hundred scientist of the second half of the twentieth century. His entire reputation among the laypeople and even among scientist his strictly due to ableism. I do admire the man and his work, but I am absolutely morally disgusted by the undeserved adulation that is devoted to him. There, I had to get this out of my chest.
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