Duckworth and the modern amputee
I enjoy Tammy Duckworth. Not just because she's running for U.S. Representative in the notoriously conservative Illinois district where I first exercised my right to vote upon turning 18. Not just because she's winning, or a woman, or a disabled veteran. I enjoy her apparent ease with her physical self despite becoming a double-amputee not that long ago.
Photos of her pressing the flesh of her future constituents show her in pants or 
skirts, on crutches or using a wheelchair. I think of the times I've seen someone with a visible prosthetic in public and heard someone else comment that they wish the amputee would wear more concealing clothing. I suspect this is one aspect of adapting to impairments where military veterans often succeed beyond other disabled folk since their injuries symbolize patriotic pride as much or more than they do bodily shame at abnormality.
Duckworth also challenges the idea of one appropriate way to respond to a particular disability. Not that other amputees don't switch between crutches/prosthetic and wheelchair when necessary, but Duckworth is doing this very publicly and therefore educating us all about what living with a double amputation can be like. It's a form of practicality -- using whatever tools you need for mobility and access whenever you need them -- that nondisabled people often find confusing about disability. It's interesting and very cool to see.
Photos from Duckworth's political site, linked above.
1 comment:
Thank you for this. I mean to write about her, too, this month. I made a list of topics I want to cover as I attempt NaBloPoMo, and Duckworth is right there on it, about eight subjects after the piece I need to write called "On Feet and Feminism" which I promised Ron Sullivan here.
I'm thrilled to hear Duckworth's winning. Every time I hear her speak on the radio she sounds so completely right on. And even though I'm in Massachusetts, I do hear her occasionally on NPR.
Visibility for women amputees is an ongoing issue I attempt to address both on a personal level (I wear shorts when I'm hot, and miniskirts when I go out somewhere nice in the summer, and I don't have a foam cover on my fake leg to make it look "normal," and I think it's just too bad if some people can't see its miraculous beauty the way I do) and on my own blog, where the only thing I've said yet has been pictorial, usually in the form of illustrating my experience as an amputee or how to do something with a transfemoral prosthetic. Since I don't exactly sport Heather Mills-McCartney's body type, it's my quiet, subversive little side hope that the more pictures like this I publish, the more people will come across them and ultimately assimilate them into their subconscious catalog of what might be considered "normal." I understand that my tiny efforts will not change the world alone, and I am happy other people are out there just being real and not letting other people tell them how to dress or when to walk. I will tell you, though, that I don't like going out in public without my prosthetic on because it makes me feel so vulnerable. The prosthetic is not always comfortable, and sometimes it's like wearing a very badly fitting shoe that goes all the way up to my crotch and even sort of shoves itself up my ass with every step. Still, the reason I don't go without it is because even when it sucks, I feel freer and stronger wearing it out in the world than I do without it. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to make this choice every day over two or more of 'em, though. I can imagine I might choose very differently far more frequently.
The visibility of female amputees is a very sensitive subject because women are expected to be appropriately costumed in our culture. Appearance and submission to fashion are locked into our perceived viability as women. Just like women in wheelchairs, amputated women have our own set of pornsick objectifying perverts, god bless you people, and "my eyes! my eyes!" people. Men suffer these things, too, but it's an especially good time for us girls because of things like skirts and heels which are not only in the box of things we're expected to want to include in our lives as women but also fit comfortably in the box of things that can be classified as disabling limitations and obstacles to a suffering-free life even for able-bodied women.
I am ranting and babbling, I know, because there is much I want to say about all this, and I promise to be more coherent at another time and place. Thank goodness for NaBloPoMo klcking me in the ass and making me actually do it, one day and one topic at a time, 'cause, you know, some of us just aren't as diligent bloggers as you are. Meanwhile, thank you for bringing it up, and giving us your take on Duckworth.
(I always, always learn something here. I always, always think more because I've been here. Thanks.)
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