Who Defines Reasonable?

Alan Woodhouse BA

“No man is an island entire unto himself” when all said and done!
Though this is what the medical model would have us be
You are the problem and this is where you’ll stay!
So create a categorical puzzle to defile us a way
We can sure make it clear or even let Shaw make it clear
“Reasonable men adapt themselves to the world.
Unreasonable men adapt to themselves.
That’s why all progress depends on unreasonable men”
Reasonable is defined by the one holding power!
Therefore reasonable is not a reasonable concept it is a concept of oppression
Is it unreasonable to expect disabled people to adapt to the world?
It is reasonable for disabled people to expect the world
To adapt and adjust to a necessary degree.
It’s up to you and me to define that degree!
We do not need to be in power but simply empowered with simple truth!
Reasonable adjustment is not enough when defined by those who are not just.
They can not be just if they do not know the true nature of disability
“When you are not part of the disabled world
You are part of the world that creates disability”.
Not a clever but E. Cleaver helps create the clarity of this simple divide!
So as people disabled by the world we do not need to hide!

With tailored quotes from John Donne, George Bernard Shaw and Eldridge Cleaver.

© Copyright British Council of Disabled People 2002