Pride Against Prejudice

Jenny Morris

Women’s Press

(This post was originally posted on my old blog https://vikzwrites.wordpress.com/2022/05/23/second-post-disabilityreadathon-readingdisabledwomen/ as part of the reading disabled women series)

I was born disabled in an able-bodied world. All the media I absorbed either ignored or misrepresented disabled people. Disabled people were either; invisible, miraculously cured, or dead before eighteen. School reinforced these portrayals of disability. These messages affected my personality. By the end of my teens, I hated myself. I could see nothing good in my identity, my present or my future. As I was going through my own struggles, I didn’t know that the world was changing around me. Disabled people were beginning to change the very representations that had haunted my childhood. They were dancing, singing, writing, and chaining themselves to buses. (see https://womenenabled.org/)

They were beginning to get their voices heard, to tell new stories. These stories reached me while I was at university. Jenny Morris was the first voice to touch me; I came across it by chance. It was on a reading list for a women’s studies module. I never intended to take women’s studies. I was originally signed up for sociology and philosophy. But my friends were taking women’s studies, and I followed. My self-hatred and bias against disabled people nearly stopped me from reading pride against prejudice. Thankfully, wiser heads prevailed, and I was persuaded to read the text. This decision changed how I saw my disability and ultimately changed my life.

This book, based on Morris’ own experience and interviews with other disabled women, looked at the experiences of disabled women, showing commonalities within their experiences. I saw my experiences reflected back to me. I saw that those experiences that I once thought were mine and mine alone were shared by many disabled women.

Morris then continued her exploration by exploring the negative representations of disabled people that underpinned the cultural discourse of the time. (And today). She links the negative experiences of disabled people to the negative representation that surrounds them. Morris showed me that I was not alone. She explained to me that my negative experiences were socially constructed and, as such, could be fought against and dismantled. I was able to begin my long journey to accepting my identity, start to heal, and move on with my life. I owe a lot to this book, the author, and the movement that gave it birth.