268 RüdigerKunow
itnotasafixedcondition,butas"theobjectifiedresultsofthematerial
effects of the actions of the others" (I. M. Young, "Gender" 724). Thus
understood, "age" constitutes an act of socio-cultural branding (perhaps
one of the most effective ones in Western culture) even while it also
remainsanunfoldingpersonalstoryorhistory.
The "age chill factor" in U.S.-American and other cultures turns the
latter stages of the human life course into a dread scenario with its
conventional association of late life with the decline of physical and
mentalcapabilitiesandtheeventualendofhumanexistence."Age"thus
expected or experienced brings about a re-calibration of the stories told
about life. The coming-of-age narrative is one of advancement and
promotion;butwiththecomingofage,manyofthestoriescirculatingin
the culture are about demotion and death. What Jameson has said à
propos Marx's view of capitalism can also be said about these tales:
here, too, "it is indeed not merely a question of laying out a structure
whichcanonlyexistbyfunctioningintime,itisalsooneofpresentinga
structure... always in the process of breaking down" (Representing
Capital24).
- Exception Incorporated: Disability as Inscription of Cultural
Otherness
"Disability" is—like age—one of the most compelling signifiers of
what can be seen as non-normative in human bodies and beings. The
term marks a moment when the materiality of the body impacts on its
(possibilities of) meaning and public presence, when, in other words, it
becomescultural.Astheword"seen"indicates,disability—regardlessof
shape, form, or definition—is almost always also a highly visible
difference,oftenthefirstthingpeoplenoticeevenincasualcontactwith
others(cognitiveimpairmentsareanotableexceptionto thisrulewhich
goes some way to explaining their special status in the disability
experience). Like "age," then, disability is a strong signifier, one that
tendstorelegateothercommonlyusedidentifierssuchasheight,weight,
clothing,etc.tosecondarystatus.
Throughout this chapter, I will therefore be arguing that there is an
element of what the Frankfurt School has called "Identificatory
thinking" (Adorno, Negative Dialectics 4-7) about disability. While
forms of mental or physical non-normativity are first and foremost