Vital Signs Crip Culture Talks Back Analysis

Reflections on Vital Signs: Crip Culture Talks Back Before watching the film Vital Signs: Crip Culture Talks Back, this student admits that they viewed those with a physical disability through a lens clouded by pity for that particular individual. Often, this student feels helpless and uncomfortable because they are unsure how to interact with those who are in a wheelchair or display difficulty with walking or communicating due to physical or mental impairments. After watching this film and reading material related to the social psychology of disability, this student’s perceptions of people with disabilities dramatically changed. Vital Signs: Crip Culture Talks Back is a documentary that utilizes interviews, performance pieces, and dramatic

Duffy states that she felt that her “body was the way that it was supposed to be, that it was right for [her] as well as being whole, complete and functional.” Duffy stands defiantly in front of her audience and seems unabashed by her nude body. Her image reminds this student of a Greek goddess carved from stone; a classic symbol of beauty. Duffy’s performance questions what one defines as beautiful and normal. Devlieger (2000) states the following:
Culture and disability takes at its starting points the assertion that disability is culturally created and stands as a reflection of a society’s meaning of the phenomenon it created. This includes the fact that disability is a cultural reality that is both time and place dependent: what disability means is different from one social group to another and different from one historical period to another. (p. 526)
In other words, the standards associated with normalcy are more subjective than most realize. Also, if one lives long enough eventually almost everyone acquires some form of disability over