Eli Clare Stolen Bodies Summary

An estimated one billion people are living with disabilities around the world, that is approximately 15 percent of all people on earth (United Nations, n.d.). Furthermore, in the United States, almost 57 million people, 19 percent, have some type of disability (United States Census Bureau, 2012). It is apparent that disabilities are prominent in life today, and unfortunately, the world views disability as individuals who are not abled. Eli Clare, author of "Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies: Disability and Queerness", acknowledges that there is a vast majority of people living with disabilities and in light of this, he advises the world to accept irrevocable differences. In this case, Clare argues that irrevocable differences are bodily differences

that do not go away and that fact has a tendency to irritate people. Clare aims to enlighten society that while the world views disabilities as unnatural differences, they need to change their outlook to accept irrevocable differences in order to refigure the world.
Eli Clare acknowledges that the world views disabilities in several ways.

Clare provides different paradigms of disability in order to demonstrate the wide variety of views concerning disabilities. He states that the paradigms of disability "all turn disability into problems faced by individual people, locate those problems in our bodies, and define those bodies as wrong," (Clare, 2001, p. 360). The first paradigm model Clare explains is the medical model which defines disability as a disease or a condition that is treatable. Next, he explains that the charity model defines disability as a tragedy and the supercrip model defines disability as a tough challenge that individuals overcome; the supercrip model makes individuals with disabilities out to be superheroes. Lastly, Clare explains that the moral model defines disability as a weakness. In order to demonstrate the paradigms and how they overlap, Clare cleverly uses an array of popular examples. One significant example is Jerry Lewis' telethon. During this time, Jerry Lewis attempts to raise money in order to find a cure for a condition. Overall, his Labor Day telethon raises money to end a disability by finding a cure for the broken bodies. This telethon employs the medical model because it demonstrates disability as a condition that needs to be treated. In addition, the telethon employs the charity model because it shows disability as a misfortune. All four disability paradigms are known as the social model because they are the ideas that society has about certain bodies. When society creates these ideas about disabilities, they create unnatural

differences.
Countless people around the world view disabilities as unnatural differences. From this viewpoint, disabilities are seen as something that is not natural in the world surrounding them. In fact, people become irritated and discourteous with disabled individuals for a multitude of reasons. Time and again, people are aggravated with disabilities because they outpace social norms. It is because individuals understand themselves based on society, and social norms are formed, that disabilities do not fit within society. Gayle Salamon, author of "'The Place Where Life Hides Away': Merleau-Ponty, Fanon, and the Location of Bodily Being", refers to Merleau-Ponty when discussing unnatural differences because he discussed that that unnatural differences are "created rather than found," (Salamon, 2006, p. 99). Salamon explains that unnatural differences are socially constructed in which they are created by society, not found. She goes on to explain that "creation arises from an ongoing series of acts, of physical and psychic exchanges with the world that are sometimes unconscious and sometimes volitional," (Salamon, 2006, p. 101). Salamon is declaring that individuals consciously and unconsciously create unnatural differences. Unfortunately, many people around the world hold negative views towards disabilities because they believe it is an unnatural difference. Clare recognizes this setback, and while he acknowledges its prevalence, he advises society to accept irrevocable differences because they are necessary to life.
In his piece, "Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies: Disability and Queerness", Clare introduces the term irrevocable difference. Irrevocable means that it cannot be changed or it is not capable of being altered. Different means that something or someone is not the similar. Tying both definitions together, irrevocable differences are meaningless variations that cannot be altered or change. Additionally, Clare reveals that irrevocable differences are necessary to life. He goes on to argue that irrevocable differences are necessary to life because it is a part of an individual's identity. Clare demonstrates this when he admits that, "so much of who I am is carried in my irrevocably different body," (Clare, 2001, p. 362). He embraces his irrevocably different body, and encourages others to do so as well. If irrevocable differences were to disappear, then the identity of individuals around the world would also disappear. Moreover, embracing irrevocable differences is difficult for many because countless people around the world do not accept irrevocable differences and the fact that they cannot be changed; rather, the world is going to great lengths to cure and fix bodies. Clare wants to rid the world of negative views towards irrevocable differences, and believes that it is beneficial to accept irrevocably different people. In order to demonstrate the negative effect society has on irrevocably different bodies, Clare discusses his body as a young child.
Eli Clare realized at a young age that he was irrevocably different from those around him. To further explain the importance of irrevocable differences, he addresses his "disabled queer body" (Clare, 2001, p. 361). Today, Clare considers himself to be "white, disabled, and gender-queer", and accepts the fact that he is irrevocably different (Eli Clare, 2012). He had known from an early age that he was irrevocably different because his body would shake, he had a difficult time keeping his balance, had poor speech, and moved slow (Clare, 2001, p. 361). Rather than accept his irrevocable difference, people accepted Clare's disability as something that needs to be fixed, because he was broken and "unacceptably queer" (Clare, 2001, p. 361). Clare hopes to refigure the world and change the belief that disabilities are unnatural differences to the belief that irrevocable differences should be accepted.
Irrevocably different bodies are seen as unique, whereas unnaturally different bodies are created and treated differently by people. Clare acknowledges that disabilities can be seen as an unnatural difference, but he promotes the idea of embracing disabilities as irrevocable differences instead of accepting it as an unnatural difference. In his piece, Clare writes "irrevocable differences could be a cause for celebration, but in this world it isn't," (Clare, 2001, p. 362). It is because people are forcing meaning onto the variations of people, and there is deviation from the norm, that there are differences. Clare encourages society to no longer think of disabilities as wrong or unnatural, and to accept or embrace them as irrevocable differences. In order to refigure the world, he warns the public that people must change what they believe about disabled bodies so that "they don't become storage sites, traps, for the very oppression we want to eradicate," (Clare, 2001, p. 363). In order to do so, people need to acknowledge their bodies, whether they are disabled or not.
There is an alarming rate of individuals living with disabilities all around the world. Unfortunately, those individuals face the belief that they are unnaturally different, in which they are broken, wrong, and need to be fixed. Due to the fact that unnatural differences are socially constructed and implemented, Clare wants to shatter society's "belief that my body is wrong" in hopes of changing the world (Clare, 2001, p. 363). The author concedes that the belief that disabilities are an unnatural difference needs to vanish and in its place, the belief of accepting irrevocable differences should excel. The view that disabilities are an unnatural difference are harmful and results with "bodies stolen for good," (Clare, 2001, p. 363). Society needs to accept irrevocable differences, such as disabilities, rather than the belief that they are unnatural differences.