Hegemonic Normalcy

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When defining “hegemonic normalcy” it is important to break down the two words and understand their meaning in isolation. As far as normalcy goes, one can think of it as "status quo"; from a critical disability perspective it refers to the status quo of able bodied people. Hegemony is understood as a dominant way of thinking or doing; in order for an idea, concept, or discourse to hold onto its position of privilege and dominance, it must simultaneously work to exclude and delegitimize other ways of thinking or being. Hegemonic normalcy is when one group, the dominant group, controls another. According to Cameron (2014), ideas that are given by the predominant influence control our actions and thoughts, which lead us to exhibit certain behaviours …show more content…

2). This ideal was a god-like body, as it was comprised of only the most ideal physical parts (Davis, 2017, p. 2). In the mid-1800's, "normal" became the "ideal”, the significance being that people could compare themselves to a "normal person", versus a god-like entity. The term “normal” or “norm” comes from the concept of the “average man”, which emerged from Quetelet’s statistical analyses (Davis, 2017, p. 3). He discovered that similar to the law of error used by astronomers, a statistical “average” could also be applied to human features such as weight and height (Davis, 2017, p. 3). With the rise of normalcy came a movement of classifying people as “standard” and “nonstandard” (Davis, 2017, p. 3). As a result, hegemony of normalcy emerged, in which the “normal” people dominated over the marginalized groups (e.g., disabled individuals). Statistics contributes to this concept by sending the message that the entire population can be normed, providing a message that there is a divide amongst us (Davis, 2017, p. 3). The extremities of the bell curve represent those characteristics that deviate away from the norm; in terms of bodies, those with disabilities are thought of as deviant. In the past, this concept was demonstrated by the popularity of eugenics, which aimed to create a “normal” utopia (Davis, 2017, p. 3). The principles of eugenics are to eliminate

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