Published Online:June 2024
Product Name:The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type:Article
Product Code:
Author Name:Rajni Mujral
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Arts and Humanities
Download Format:PDF
Pages:12
The paper addresses the irreverence and disregard towards the ma(d)isabled bodies in Indian texts and contexts. It focuses on the relation between notions of disability and madness to examine the constructed nature of such terms. The basic proposition is that persons with disability are examined as bodies on the boundary: It is the boundary that defines normalcy. However, it is the same boundary that brings together those elements that challenge the boundary. What defines disability or madness is not its nature, but its relation to what has been institutionalized. The paper examines Jerry Pinto’s Em and the Big Hoom (2013) to analyze what terms like ‘disability’ and ‘madness’ are invested within the Indian context. It is interesting to note the multivalent meanings that ensue and how they are peculiar to a culture.
Terms such as ‘madness’ and ‘disability’ are not recent developments. The meaning of these terms varies as per culture (Gilman 1982). The parameters of ascertaining someone’s disability are highly problematic and have various medical, social and legal implications. The intervention of various disciplines has various associations. Here, the focus is on how these disciplines thrust a layer of stigma to the notion of disability and to what extent gender differences shape these disciplines. The relationship between gender and disability is rather overt, though it has been continuously neglected. Hence, there is a need to recognize and accept the multilayered nature of the experience of disability due to this intersection.