NotNormativelyHuman 281
having or getting a non-normative embodiment.^113 The term
"contingent" is here meant to cover a number of senses and thematic
areas: some disabilities are not inborn but occur contingently, by
accident,asaresultofincalculablechanceoccurrencestowhichhuman
beings are ineluctably exposed during their life course, illnesses or
traffic mishaps being the most obvious examples. Even unusual genetic
compositions like trisomy 23 may be seen as instances of biological
contingencies. The sense that more often people may get, rather than
have, disabilities is captured by the phrase just mentioned, "temporarily
able." Contingency furthermore means that disability cannot be
groundedbyappealstothematerialityofthebody.AsIhopetoshowin
more detail in this chapter,no systemic connection exists between a
physical condition named disabled and the social and cultural
positionality of the person so designated. Disability is thus what
deconstructionists love to call a sliding signifier. Whatever its reference
in a given situational context, "disability," since the term came into use
during the Enlightenment, has always been a field where medical
foundationalism clashes with socio-cultural constructivism. From the
latter position, it is usually argued that "disability" is a social and
cultural construct and for this reason should not be reduced to physical
or psychological impairments. But the very opposite is also true. All
emphasis on the constructed nature of "disability" cannot disregard the
harshpainfulmaterialrealitiesofthedisabilityexperience(Hambrookn.
pag.).
Independentlyofwhichsideonemighttakeinthisclashoftheories,
the terminology used to address physical/psychological non-
normativity—differently abled, especially challenged, people with
special needs, handicapped, to name only a few—is evidence of the
widely discrepant perspectives under which this condition is seen in the
privateandthepublicworlds.Thecontingenciesofthisnamingprocess
canbefurtherillustratedbyfollowingthehistoryofdisabilityawareness
as offered, e.g., by Henry-Jacques Stiker'sHistory of Disability. The
material collected there not only shows that strongly held convictions
andcontentiousattitudestowardsmentalorbodilynon-normativitiesare
(^113) Joseph Shapiro estimates that only 15 percent of the people with a serious
impairmentwerebornthatway(7).