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Donna Walton's “What's a Leg Got to Do with It?”

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Donna Walton's “What's a Leg Got to Do with It?” BARBARA FAYE WAXMAN FIDUCCIA PAPERS ON WOMEN AND GIRLS WITH DISABILITIES CENTER FOR WOMEN POLICY STUDIES February 2011 What’s A Leg Got To Do With It?: Black, Female and Disabled in America by Donna R. Walton, Ed.D. Introduction : Over a decade ago, Eddie Glenn called attention to the disparate treatment of African American women with disabilities, suggesting that a triple jeopardy syndrome puts them at a further disadvantage because they are victims of race, gender, and disability bias in our society. Her research explored what it means to be an African American and live with a disability. She also found that African American women with disabilities contribute disproportionately to the population of under educated American women and are least likely to have a high school diploma, do not vigorously participate in the labor force because of the severity of the disability, and are least likely to be married or living in a family arrangement. The impact of triple jeopardy, she found, is observed in several aspects of the lives of African American women with disabilities, including support and family relationships, education, participation in the rehabilitation process, and employment and income (Glenn, 1992). The 1980s saw a flurry of interest in women with physical disabilities (for example, amputees, paraplegics, quadriplegics), but little attention was devoted to the subject in the 1990s, (Danek, 1992). Today, even though a body of literature exists that examines and criticizes rehabilitation services for African Americans with disabilities, there remains a scarcity of literature dedicated to examining the lived experiences of African American women with disabilities, particularly related to self-esteem, self-efficacy and sexual identity. Research suggests that the cause of this scarcity may be attributed to distrust, stemming from the historical relationship between African Americans and whites in the United States -- from slavery to the Tuskegee syphilis experiments. According to Atkins (1988), the scope of cultural mistrust is a lack of trust on the part of some (white Americans) and suspicion of the motives of others. One plausible argument to explain the dearth of research and the trickle down effect of apathy and anxiety among African American women with disabilities may be attributed to their cultural beliefs. Many African American women with disabilities believe that their disabilities are not issues for discussion and that by not disclosing, they may feel that their silence will somehow alleviate the stigma attached to their conditions (Glenn, 1992). They also feel that self-disclosure requires that others have an open mind, an open heart, and an open dialogue about what is required of them. Interestingly, African American women with disabilities who are in social networks and professional circles seem to echo this lament. They share that perceptions and stereotypes have had a long-lasting impact on their participation in social and/or political organizations and that many efforts in their struggle for equality and equal rights are still 2 Running Head: What’s a Leg Got to do With It? subjected to prejudice and discrimination. They feel that researchers lack a genuine interest in their concerns; thus they do not feel compelled to contribute. The goal of this paper is to go beyond the discussion of the impact of “triple jeopardy syndrome” with respect to Glenn’s (1992) aforementioned aspects and to focus on other aspects that impact the lives of African American women with disabilities, such as self-esteem, self- efficacy, and sexual identity. One objective of this paper is to scrutinize how race and disability affect the self-esteem of African American women with disabilities, and how they overcome attitudinal challenges to manifest a new standard of “normalcy” in order to become successful, adjusted women in a society that lauds physical attractiveness. Another objective of this paper is to examine how African American women with physical disabilities overcome struggles with imposed standards of beauty ( body image) in a society where African American women and disabled persons are absent or dismally addressed in literature, the media (television, cinema) and policy. This paper also discusses remedies for policy makers and rehabilitation programs to consider when serving African American women with disabilities. The Paper concludes with a discussion about ways in which African American women with disabilities can confront the challenges of discrimination and misperceptions about what it is like to be African American, female, and disabled in America. The Paper then proposes policies which, if adopted, can help to ameliorate the conditions that keep African American women with disabilities from attaining recognition in the media and status in the workplace. Finally, to help narrow the focus of this paper, the terms African American women with disabilities and African American women with physical disabilities are used interchangeably to include those women whose impairment requires the use of a wheelchair, cane, crutches, prosthesis or other mobility devices. The exclusion of African American women whose disability may be non-physical should not be interpreted to mean that the issues discussed in this paper do not affect the women in these groups. It is not to be assumed that the impact of “triple jeopardy syndrome” on this author, an African American woman amputee, can be generalized to other African American women with other physical or non-physical types of disabilities. Also, my use of the term “disabled” is not intended to show disrespect by not addressing the person first. It is used to economize word usage. African American Women with Disabilities and Standards of Beauty : Numerous studies seem to corroborate the notion that African American women have an uneasy coexistence with the European (white) ideal of beauty. Compared to white women, issues of skin color, facial features, and hair have more profoundly affected Black women (Ashe, 1995). This can be explained in large part by the emphasis that is placed on the physical attractiveness of a woman in our society. According to Ashe, hair alteration (i.e., hair-straightening "perms," hair weaves, braid extensions, Jheri curls, etc.) remains the most popular way for African American women to approximate a white female standard of beauty (Ashe, 1995). A social experiment contradicts the notion that an African American woman’s obsession is to attain a standard of skinny and thin. In fact, one may be hard pressed to find an African American woman who would readily admit her desire to look like a white woman. For the most part, many African American women hold great pride in their body’s shape and size because this is the standard in their communities and what their men desire. Caruthers, Schooler, Ward, and Merriwether (2004) support this contradiction by offering a reprieve to this sobering notion. They contend that when it comes to body image Black women just don't feel 3 Running Head: What’s a Leg Got to do With It? bad in the same way as white women, especially by watching television because the ideal of resembling a thin, pretty white woman is simply unimportant. Likewise, Smith (2004) confirms that even though only 5.6 percent of the characters on prime time television are Black women, those Black women who were studied were mostly unscathed by watching numerous hours of television programs featuring thin, white women. Further, John Bing, an anesthetist nurse who works for a leading plastic surgeon in Washington, DC, says he is noticing an increase in the number of African American women who undergo makeovers, but does not believe they are seeking to look like White women (personal conversation). Regardless of the conundrum surrounding the African American woman’s obsession to attain high physical similarity to the white woman’s standard of beauty, African American women with disabilities can only strive to show another standard of physical attractiveness that some day society will embrace. Physical attractiveness is of overwhelming importance to media outlets, advertisers and sponsoring corporations, because much attention is paid to how women “look” in our society. However, the “look” is the focus for large media conglomerates that do little to promote realistic and affirming images of African American women. Malveaux (2008) drives the point home when she talks about the power of media and its impact on perpetuating negative images of Black women, reminding us of the Don Imus media debacle during a State of Black America conference. She argues that the image of African American women in popular culture has only barely improved, despite organized response and resistance to these images. She claims that even though there is ample anecdotal evidence that African American women have been climbing the corporate ladder; images of Black women in popular culture are an ankle-weight that slows the climb. From the television show Ugly Betty to the movie Pretty Woman , a subliminal dynamic takes place influencing not just how we view beauty but how we consciously think about attraction. Imagine the television shows The Biggest Loser , Dancing with the Stars , and Extreme Makeover . The first represents what you may look like, the second what you want to look like, and the last shows you how to get there. On a 55 inch TV screen these images appear to walk right into our consciousness and tell us what is -- and is not --and how to become -- beautiful. In like manner, tale a trip to downtown Los Angeles or New York City or any major city in the United States and you will encounter a plethora of billboards and advertisements exhibiting “pretty people” with “perfect bodies” that, generally, look nothing like our own. If we stop to think about it, we see beautiful people all the time, more often than members of our own family, making exceptional good looks seem real, normal and attainable.
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