Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities: A Harmful or helpful concept?

Picture a scene in your mind. Are you the Queen or Prince Charles? A gallant and brave man kneels before you in a room filled with baroque art. Laying a historical sword on their left and right shoulder, you proclaim him a ‘Sir,’ a ‘Knight,’ a hero among men. It’s my firmest belief that every Non-Disabled person suffers from the ‘Knighthood’ complex.

The ideology of ‘Empowerment’ is well-meaning. There’s no doubt about that. We want to do good, we the Non-Disabled, want to put pressure on the hemorrhaging rights of Persons with Disabilities. But, doing this without believing ourselves the custodians of that very power we ‘bestow’ unto Persons with Disabilities is the trickiest part. Now, there’s nothing particularly foul in bestowing power onto someone else. Still, there’s something eerily telling about the fact that the person must be kneeling to receive their ‘power.’ Empowerment of Persons With Disabilities in many ways comes from the same school of thought.

Similar to the Queen being the custodian of the power she is releasing to the Knight, as the Non-Disabled, we believe that we own the power we are giving. In order to release the power that we require to empower, we must acknowledge that we are the very ‘gatekeepers’ of that power. Otherwise, how else would we explain having the key to the gate in our possession? For how can you release what you don’t ‘own’? ‘Ownership’ makes everything about this debacle thorny.

It’s no stranger that I come from a peculiar school of thought on Disability Rights. A path where I am very much a loner, one where I am a categorized as a Disability Rights activist, but in truth I see myself as a Non-Disabled Disruptor. I believe that Disability rights are a game of superiority complexes. We, The Non-Disabled, are stealing and withholding from our Peers with Disabilities. Yes, I said what I said, ‘stealing’ and ‘withholding.’ My work as an activist comes from the fact that I’m ashamed. So, no, I don’t require your glory or pats on the back because, in many ways, I have partaken in this theft of social currency. There are no aliens from space who immigrated to earth and built staircases, crappy Special Needs Schools, made doors that can’t fit wheelchairs, I could go on and on. No, it’s us, it’s me, the Non-Disabled. We steal the power and, or withhold it. Yet simultaneously bestow it? That doesn’t sit right with me. Empowerment as a framework in its entirety makes my tummy ache thinking about how I’ve misused the term for the last six years of my work in Disability Advocacy.

No, this isn’t an article telling you that you shouldn’t do good for Persons with Disabilities. I’m not diminishing anyone’s efforts. Rather, this is an article checking myself as a Non-Disabled Person. I have no right to empower Persons With Disabilities, for I am from the clan that stole their power and keeps it locked behind a gate. Periodically, I creak the gate open and a few Disability rights are let loose, but that’s nothing for me to congratulate myself about. I’m checking myself into appreciating that this infinite source of refined fuel that spins the globe doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to all People across all abilities. I feel like those irritating kids on the playground who scream ‘Mine!’ to everything and then expect a ‘Thank You’ after I’ve begrudgingly ‘shared’ my toys.
We do not bestow power. We are not Kings, Princes, or Queens. We are here to share power that belonged to all of us in the first place. I’m making an effort to return the social force that I stole. When you see me at a conference, a panel, or a lecture, be drunk on my narrative. When you’re reading one of my articles or books, please indulge in this narrative of mine. I can’t share power without returning it to its co-owner first. And, I can’t return it without acknowledging my stake in the heist. In no way, I’m I bestowing it. And, for those who find comfort in empowerment, I’m not here to rain on your parade, do go ahead with this school of thought. Disability rights is a huge vacuum so we need all the do-gooders than the reverse. I’m just a prickly person who interrogates the ends, the means, and the source to be justified in my mind.

However, as you empower, when your sword is resting on the shoulders of Person With Disabilities and you’re wearing your princely robe, pay mind to the picture in your mind. Is the subject that you’re knighting standing up or kneeling down?

Michelle Omamteker.