Assignment #2: Corporeal Marker Project

The corporeal markers we chose for our project were disability-related: a wheelchair and an arm-sling. While both of these markers actually are required for (temporarily or permanently) disabled bodies to function in an able-bodied world, the markers are uncommon enough among young, abled bodies in college. 

These specific corporeal markers were chosen because one of the participants (Bella) was already navigating spaces in a wheelchair, due to an unfortunate series of injury-related events. Noticing differences in how and where she was able to access her beloved college campus of 4 years, she decided to 'make' the wheelchair her marker for the remainder of the project. Anastasia utilized an arm sling leftover from Bella's stress-fractured elbow injury last year. 

Unwelcome bodies: Doors and objects in the way

Navigating the able-bodied world with disability markers was quite a challenge. Invoking Hansen and Philo's (2007) discussion on 'doing things differently,' we often felt 'out of place' (p. 496). Doors without automatic hinges made opening spaces difficult with the arm-sling -- nearly impossible with the wheelchair. 

A formidable classroom entrance.

Entering and exiting bathrooms made our bodies feel unwelcome, dependent upon other people to pursue seemingly 'independent' activities. 

"How do I get this to open?" -Bella

This "correlation between psychological and physical states" as a disabled body in an able-bodied constructed domain "should not be underestimated” (Imrie, 2004, p. 754). 

Bella especially noticed the restroom barrier in her wheelchair. In one of her afternoons in Baker Center, she chose repeatedly to return to the 4th floor restroom because it is a bigger, wider space than the other 5-floor restroom areas. The 'convenient' becomes inconvenient for the body that's inconvenienced. 

In this observation, we would like to echo Imrie (2004) in believing that: "the impaired body is rarely imagined or drawn into domestic design and the production of dwellings or buildings more generally (p. 746).

Object obstructions were a common theme in Bella's solo venturings in and around campus. In her Alden Library 1st floor log on October 9, she noted: 

"Chairs are in my way … chairs are always in my way" (Bella, personal observation).

Bella continually struggled with pushing and pulling objects out of the pathway of her wheelchair – without toppling over in the process! 

Another bathroom inconvenience from this October 9 outing: "There's no bathroom on this floor for me. I have to elevator up to the women's restroom on the 2nd floor" (Bella, personal observation).

Disability and Work

The arm sling was worn to work one day by Anastasia and reactions of disappointment and concern came from the staff. Without a properly working arm, Anastasia was unable to perform tasks as efficiently and as quickly as expected. She was soon asked to leave work promptly in exchange for a full and speedy recovery (as well as to not slow down the production line and task goals).

As on scholar put it, "the laboring body has become a desiring body" (Turner, 1996, p. 2 in McDowell, 1999, p. 37). The shift to a service-based economy has transformed the embodied worker from muscle power to part of a product for exchange. Particular bodily performances in service occupations become part of the exchange process (p. 37).

McDowell (1999) discusses how in leisure activities the disabled body has moved centre-stage. With the association of fitness and thinness, dominant body desires are not only achieved through exercise but also through the acceptable performance and perception of the cult of a 'fit' body (p. 37). The arm sling was worn in Ping where activities of running and weightlifting were conducted in rooms full of non physically disabled bodies. Running with the sling was easier than using the provided weightlifting machines in the work out area. However stares of confusion and looks of impatience were given when conducting only one arm weight lifting exercises. Not to mention the crowded quarters in the weight lifting room were not accommodating toward the protection of the disabled arm. This brought light to how there were minimal exercise machines that could accommodate for a disabled body in this public area.  

Disabilities and Leisure Activities

Accomplishing everyday tasks was much harder and took more time than it would have for an able-bodied person. When the sling was worn in class, Anastasia quickly realized that if her arm had actually been broken, she would not have been able to sufficiently take notes. This realization made Anastasia think about how our schools and education systems are created around individuals that must be able-bodied, healthy, and physically adapt. If an individual does not meet certain standards he or she is not truly accepted in the infrastructure and environment of a university.

It is interesting to think about how corporal markers and pieces of one's physical identity can restrict one from places in his or her environment based on these differences. This design flaw is a violation of spatial justice in the right to access and connect.

Ohio University Lecture Hall

'The gaze' and other behavior observations

Staring eyes followed Bella in her wheelchair everywhere she went.

Hansen and Philo (2007) note a similar pattern in their research: "On many occasions for disabled people the problem may be staring eyes, often averted if the disabled person does try to make eye contact, alongside a pitying attitude towards someone’s ‘imperfect’ control of their bodily movements" (p. 497). 

Bella recorded similar patterns of behavior in her Baker Center log on October 4: "I catch people staring at me. We make eye contact. They look away quickly" (Bella, personal observation). 

And again during the October 9 Alden Library log: "People are staring, as I attempt to move the chair to fit my wheelchair comfortably" (Bella, personal observation). 

Bella also noticed that the barista during her October 4 outing spoke much louder to her than the previous customer: "The barista speaks loudly – louder? – to me as I order an iced tea. Does she think I'm hearing-impaired, too?" (Bella, personal observation). 

This observation brings to mind Hansen and Philo's (2007) discussion of impaired or disabled bodies being seen only as "‘half-bodies’, other- wise looking somehow ‘broken’, ‘crumpled’ or ‘disfigured’" and regarded as "some way sub-human, pre-human, ‘freak’, ‘mutant’, even ‘monster'" (p. 496). In this way, Bella's physical mobility was the impairment 'at hand' in her interaction with the barista -- not her speaking or hearing or cognizant abilities. And yet, she was treated differently because of her marker alone.

Navigating visible/invisible boundaries around the corporeal markers was also part of the participant observations. 

Bella recorded on October 4: "People changing classes swarm past my standstill wheelchair on the side of the sidewalk. No one stops or makes eye contact. I am invisible" (Bella, personal observation).

Navigating campus with only an arm sling was somewhat easier in comparison to being in a full on wheelchair, however social stigmas that came with being disabled were equally observed in people's reactions toward disability. Curious stares, and drawn out eye gazes toward the arm sling were accounted for as well as diligence to avoid walking in close proximity to the disabled body.

Autonomy and control: Dependence as a disabled body

One of the most frustrating aspects Bella noticed navigating the able-bodied world with other able-bodies was negotiating space and autonomy of movement. 

At some points in this exercise, Bella just wanted a push to help her up a steep hill or ramp. But during Bella's October 13 outing in a public mall with her family, she recorded: "My movements are entirely determined by other people at some points in this outing. I am losing a sense of autonomy and control" (Bella, personal observation). 

And again on October 14 in her Columbus-based childhood home, Bella was "restricted" from moving freely. "I direct traffic (my parents) when it comes to packing up the car again after a weekend at home. I tell my parents what to pack and where to put the bags in the car; I cannot do these actions myself. I sit stranded on the chair in the sun-room as I watch my belongings shuffle out to the car. I do not have any distractions (all are packed away). I wait to move" (Bella, personal observation). 

'Stranded' at home -- the site for "the focus [and] the care of the body" (Imrie, 2004, p. 748) -- Bella felt a stranger. No wonder that "entrapment in housing circumstances" can cause "socially and psychologically damaging" effects for those living with disabilities (Imrie 2004, p. 753).

In comparison to having a single-arm disability, mobility and everyday actions were less debilitating than being a body without control over walking. Thinking it through, if both arms were sling-stricken, everyday actions and activities where hands must be used could be as difficult as the ability to walk. We realize that to be able to function in our society, one must have management and control over one or the other: the arms or legs, or at least one functioning appendage.

Dependence on others was also observed when attempting everyday tasks with an arm sling. Small tasks taken for granted like lifting heavy objects, taking notes, preparing food, and traveling via bike riding was made much more difficult, and close to impossible. These experiences made Anastasia question her perception of belonging. Having an identity as a 'disabled' body was significant in the interdependence notion that bodies themselves are individuals in consequence to being excluded from certain spaces or activities. 

Connection to themes and readings

What's especially interesting about the complexities of navigating an able-built world as a disabled body is that anyone can become disabled at any time! Being 'impaired "is a significant, and intrinsic, condition of human existence" (Imrie, 2004, p. 745). 

Yet disabled bodies are expected to conform to such able-bodied spaces almost entirely without question (Hansen and Philo, 2007, p. 496). 

It is important to remember that embodying a disabled body is rarely a choice. 

• "the specificities of individual impairments do matter, and must be foregrounded, but always in relation to the kinds of spaces that non-disabled people have created – and the sorts of time- space organization of activities required by ableist society – which differentially, but rarely in a helpful manner, impact upon most cohorts of disabled people" (Hansen and Philo, 2007, p. 494).

Being able bodied is constructed into our society through contextual history and capitalism.

• "Rapid economic change has transformed the nature of work and leisure and placed the body at the centre of concern for individuals and society. It is both a motor of economic development, and a source of individual pleasure and pain" (McDowell, 1999, p. 37).

When human societies organize spaces, upon inspection we can see how justice and injustice are played out in the visible and invisible structural arrangements of space. Disabled bodies are restricted from a very significant form of spatial justice.

• "Spatial Links: The right to access and connect. Spatial justice is integrally linked to whether a place has access to critical public infrastructures and services. We must question if there is public access to schools or jobs for the physically disabled? Are there spaces to play and gather? Do disabled bodies have access to these infrastructures and services? When spatial links are torn out, blocked or divested, individuals loose connection with the rest of the population, community and larger ecology" (Design Studio for Social Intervention, n.d. p. 5).

In conclusion, this exercise challenged the normality of abled bodied-ness as its built into the environment and society around us. The governance that certain places maintain, based on the perception of normality, was challenged, and we tested the physical access of spaces, which more often than not denied a form of social access, as well. 

Sources used

Hansen, N. and C. Philo. (2007). The normality of doing things differently: Bodies, spaces and disability geography. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 98(4), 493-506.

Imrie, R. (2004). Disability, embodiment, and the meaning of the home. Housing Studies, 19(5), 745-763.

McDowell, L. (1999). In and out of place: Bodies and embodiment. In Gender, Identity, and Place. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI). (n.d.). Spatial justice: A frame for reclaiming our rights to be, thrive, express, and connect. Retrieved at: http://ds4si.org/storage/SpatialJustice_ds4si.pdf.

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