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A Disability Movement is to be Born - Some Reflections from an Outsider
by Dr Andrew Azzopardi
Dr Andrew Azzopardi asks why is there is so much struggle within disability groups
Friday, 27 May, 2005
In this last decade, the disability community in Malta has made significant progress on the "services" dimension. What was previously focused on charity-based and individualised, fragmented and sporadic initiatives, is now emerging in a package of community services and new programmes in the health, welfare and educational spheres. There has also been a significant increase in public awareness with certain disability issues finding their way into the national agenda.
However, locally we look as if we have given a lot of impetus to "needs based initiatives" and focused almost entirely on the conception of new services. Little, in my opinion, has been invested so far in dialogue and maturing discourse - in this facet we have been left with a dearth.
Disabled people in Malta have really and truly been silenced by the fears that non-disabled citizens have created. The politics of "difference" within the disability community began to be recognised following the establishment of the National Commission Persons with Disability in the 80's and the momentum of initiatives this strategy produced.
In the UK and the USA, other influential movements like Black activism, Feminist campaigning and Gay pride militancy, contributed to the "conception" of an organised disability lobby (Oliver, 1990; Corbett, 1994; Davies, 1994), Even though gays and disabled communities vary in other fundamental concepts, such as, the 'body beautiful notion', which is fundamental for gays and an issue of oppression for disabled people, the convergence of such issues as citizenship, lack of political involvement, oppressive discourses, invisibility, a-sexualisation and discrimination in employment opportunities are all issues that find a great deal of commonality. An assortment of minorities have lots to learn from each other on how to do activism. Maybe it is the right time to join forces and share tactics.
The local situation is probably unique in many ways. We have only seen one organised activist group made up solely of disabled people these last couple of years (Maltese Council of Disabled People). It is the one and only group completely controlled by disabled people in these last ten years that attempts to create an activist approach to disability issues, which in my opinion is still too meagre and far apart in its inventiveness and enterprise. The Maltese Disability Studies Group is a welcome addition of the MCODP that will now start creating a forum for debate based on the converging of numerous research projects that are happening around us.
However, within all this hullabaloo, I find myself asking a number of questions:
- Why it is so difficult in Malta to recognise the importance of such groups controlled by disabled people?
- Why do professionals and some of the parents of disabled parents find it so threatening to have organisations managed by disabled persons themselves, whatever the impairment?
- Why is there such an intense internal struggle and fragmentation amongst and within disability groups? Don't they recognise that this disallows coalition?
- Why is the parent lobby so strong and seemingly overpowering at times? Is there a power struggle between the parents lobby and disabled activists? Do they talk?
- Why is there so much diffusion of roles and personality clashes that heighten discontinuity rather than convergence amongst professionals and organistaions?
Understanding the disability context in Malta requires a thorough reflection on our historical context, understanding "group" politics, developing a clear picture of policy direction and reflecting on personality dynamics.
I don't think anyone knows for sure what a disability movement is but essentially what we are talking about is a set of ideas and an analysis which people can then support in different ways. I always think of the movement as a set of people that have somehow made a connection with a set of ideas (Lisicki as cited in Campbell & Oliver, 1997, p. 21).
The basic premise is to look at disability politics in Malta and identify areas that need to be addressed on the policy, political and service realm, to make sure that there is the right climate to set up a respectable disability movement based on the values of intelligence, motivation and research.
Dr. Andrew Azzopardi is a social worker and teacher by profession. He is qualified in inclusive education and disability politics, lectures at the University of Malta and has presented research papers in numerous conferences and symposia.
E-Mail: drew@waldonet.net.mt
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