Informal Writing Assignment #1

In the documentary film Examined Life, filmmaker Astra Taylor highlights eight modern day philosophers that use everyday topics to debate age old questions about life, society, nature and morals. One of the philosophers I focused on was Judith Butler as she “walked” with the filmmaker’s sister Sunaura Taylor. I found that this clip is separated into two parts. The first part is about people with disabilities and how they function in everyday life. The second part was where the philosophical debate about how disabilities and human function can be compared to gender minorities. I must admit that I had to watch the clip a couple of times before I could connect the second half topic philosophically.

I found the first half of this clip to be fascinating as Judith travels around the San Francisco neighborhood of Sunaura. The two start out focusing on what it means to take a walk. For me and probably the average everyday person, taking a walk is something done out of leisure with not much thought put into it other than the route one wishes to take. For Sunaura, who is bound to a wheelchair, taking a walk is something she does proudly. She also emphasizes the word “walk” as to give meaning that she just wants to be like everyone else.

I was stunned when Sunaura stated that she felt that San Francisco is the most accessible city for disabled people. I realize that she puts it in terms of public transportation, curbside cutouts and social acceptability. I just figure that it would be a challenging city to live in due to the steep streets and older buildings that usually don’t have handicapped access or elevators. Although I don’t live in San Francisco I have used public transportation there many times and it does offer multiple options to get from one side of the city to the other. I have not given much thought to the curbside cutouts on the corner of streets for people in wheelchairs. What I barely think about is crucial to disabled people so they know what streets they can use and maybe some streets that they should avoid. Sunaura talks a little bit about social acceptability for disabled people and how common it is for society to interact with disabled people. She also talks about able bodied people being more understanding. There is truth to that statement but my question would be how can able bodied people view disable people without seeing their disability as a result of a negative action or a result of misfortune? I can interact with disabled people without prejudice but is empathy equal to apathy?

Now the second half of this clip is where I feel the philosophical debate really takes off but I also feel that it is slightly contradictory to the first half about social acceptability. Sunaura and Judith engage in a conversation about how disabled people are socially isolated and are somewhat restricted to or have limited options for housing and employment. I understand that based on sheer physical ability, there are some jobs that disabled people are excluded from but one can make the argument that there are many able bodied people who are excluded from certain jobs based on size and weight. As far as being socially isolated, I think that is a harder argument to make only because of social networking sites and different groups of people are able to interact on-line and are able to meet in social settings. The part I found to be the most interesting is the idea that being disabled is not just simply being impaired but more of an abnormality of normal human function. Sunaura brings up a situation about if she is at a coffee shop she grabs her coffee with her mouth and since a person’s mouth is not usually used in that manner, she is started at because it is not normal. Judith doesn’t specifically state why she believes people view this differently but she alludes to society’s perception of not fitting a normal standard and gave an example about a male teenager being killed for appearing feminine. It’s almost suggesting the idea that people fear what is different and will treat it accordingly. I understand that there are too many examples that show the ignorance of people but I feel that those examples do not represent the majority of society.