Disability, Identity And Representation Analysis

The term normate, and those who consider themselves to be these normates, choose the social figure through which people can associate themselves as definitive human beings. Thus, the normate is the constructed identity of those who, by way of the bodily configurations and cultural capital they assume, can step into a position of authority and wield the power it grants them (Garland Thomson, 1996, p. 8). In other words, those who consider themselves to be normates believe that they are the norm and superior humans in society, hence labeling others as abnormal. Those who do not conform to the normate are excluded by society. The concept of being normal is socially constructed and cultivated by society, taking only the majority in consideration.

In Garland Thomson’s text, “Disability, Identity and Representation,” she argues that people with disabilities in the media are generally represented unrealistically, which harms society’s view and ability to understand real people with disabilities. The term normate is used to describe those who negatively depict people with disabilities and that descriptions of people with disabilities are generally exaggerated, and defective (Garland Thompson, 1996, p. 11). The people in this advertisement is displayed as the normate figures. Erving Goffman describes that the normate figure as white, heterosexual, educated, fully employed, of good complexion, weight and height, and a recent record in sports (Garland Thompson, 1996, p. 8). However, the normate figure is in actuality a very narrow category that only a small fraction of the world could adequately embody (Garland Thomson, 1996, p. 8). Yet, it is the foundational structuring of the world we live in today. In other words, very few people can truly fit the mold of the normate that many in our society uphold as the ideal individual. One example that Garland Thomson brought up was that the one testimony to the power of the normate subject position is that people often try to fit its description in the same way that Cinderella's stepsisters attempted to squeeze their feet into her glass slipper (Garland Thompson, 1996, p. 8). In addition, people with disabilities have been described as, “exotic aliens whose bodily configurations operate as spectacles” (Garland Thomson, 1996, p. 9). Garland Thomson also states that “these bodies deemed inferior become spectacles of otherness while the unmarked are sheltered in the neutral space of normalcy” (Garland Thomson, 1996, p. 8). The label of the normate grants people, in their minds, to be authoritative and gain the power. Since the normates believe they are the powerful, and proper people in