Passing has been glossed as a means of outwardly signalling identification with a social, cultural or ethnic group. However, in the context of this thesis, emphasis is placed on, first, the performative nature of this, and, secondly, the impact this has on the subject’s existing,
authentic or pre-ordained identity. In other words, passing is understood as a method or system of situated, habitual or deliberate methods, by which individuals attempt to psychologically
and/or physically minimise, contain, control and perhaps conceal aspects of their prescribed, pre-ordained or psychological identity. It is a strategy which, to various degrees, is made necessary or expedient by assimilationist culture i.e. a way of negotiating the consequences of stigmas imposed from outside. Brune and Wilson (2013: 1) suggest that passing, in the concept of disability, refers to “the way people conceal social markers of an impairment to avoid the stigma of disability and pass as ‘normal’.”
It can be posited that throughout history and across a range of social and cultural contexts, passing in some form has been a strategy for many groups and individuals to manage and minimise racism, homophobia, sexism and other forms of marginalisation or exclusion.
Academically speaking, or in terms of theoretical engagement with the concept of passing – an umbrella term encompassing innumerable micro-behaviours – much work has been done on passing as a means by which members of black or minority communities can negotiate entry into or existence within the dominant, usually white Caucasian, group. Despite a proportionate lack of research and writing on Irish Traveller experience, passing is a phenomenon which also has relevance for this group.
In Ireland, there has traditionally been a subset of Travellers identified as ‘settled Travellers’, by both settled people and by Travellers themselves. Broadly speaking, settling – just like other forms of passing – is a method by which Travellers can attempt to avoid or minimise their experiences of racism, shame, stigma and social exclusion, oppressions which are related, by the dominant group, or ideologically, to Traveller identity. Thus, becoming a settled
Traveller is one of several ways of passing within the context of the dominant, settled
community; a community whose administrative institutions – as has been discussed in earlier chapters – reproduce, sometimes with aggression, the norms and cultural structures of the dominant group.
In the context of this project, the relevance of settlement as a form of passing relates to the experiences of Travellers with impairments. In so doing, it offers a template or paradigm for engagement with service providers, state institutions and the negotiation of racism by a
vulnerable group. The interviews and research examined whether Travellers with impairments understood or would describe themselves as ‘settled Travellers’ because they are more likely, by necessity, to have dependent relationships with service providers. Therefore, the question of
settling, or passing as settled, is an especially relevant one to them.
5.2 Overview
To begin with, it is helpful to ask how disabled theorists have in the past conceived of and dealt with the question of racism and disablism, where these oppressions overlap, and how they can be theorised in relation to the respective, existing fields of critical race theory and disability studies. Critically reflecting on the social model of disability, Thomas (1999) points to the limitations of the social model on the grounds that is falls short of incorporating the lived experience of people with impairments – a limitation also discussed in the literature review of this thesis– and, as such, also fails to acknowledge, accommodate or anticipate racial, sexual and other forms of diversity within the disabled community. This diversity includes people with impairments who are black or belong to an ethnic minority group and extends to Irish Travellers with impairments. Within the context of the relational model sketched or presumed by the social theory of disability, people with impairments experience discrimination related to their status as a person with an impairment, in interaction with a society governed by a heteronormative and able-bodied ideology. A society which constructs the disabled person as other, but does so from an ideological, inauthentic perspective. While essentially empowering, especially when compared to the reductivity of the medical model of disability, the social model nonetheless fails to extend this conception of discrimination as a societal problem to the simultaneous discriminations and oppressions experienced inter- sectionally by people with impairments who also belong to minority groups.
It is possible, preliminarily, to work with the social model in moving towards a more thorough and inclusive model for conceiving of disabled Traveller experience. Thomas (2004) draws attention to the point of interaction between the disabled person and a specific hostile environment; this social relational thesis can be applied to a Traveller context. According to this template, and taking disabled Travellers as an example, one can begin to illuminate the intersectional implications of impairment as a member of a dominant group. As a Traveller, one is unlikely to experience racism from other Travellers. However, as a Traveller with an impairment, discrimination from fellow Travellers is a possibility. If so, this discrimination against the individual with an impairment, on the grounds of their having an impairment, is magnified and extended when the Traveller moves beyond the community and engages with non-Travellers. This is especially so with institutions and service providers who design and
deliver services and assistance methods that mirror, and address, Irish settled identity. In this case, the Traveller with an impairment is vulnerable to experiencing both racism and disablism simultaneously, as their relationship to a settled service provider and model of provision localises a power imbalance. Keeping Thomas’ (2004) social relational model in mind, it is important to ask, and endeavour to understand, why in certain situations Travellers with impairments would wish to pass or conceal their Traveller identity.
Ayesha Vernon (1997: 4) maintains that, “[as] in other areas of academia and key positions of power, the academic high ground of disability analysis is dominated by men who had focused on the structural aspects of disability such as employment, income, housing, etc” reproducing what is, arguably, an unconscious but insidious emphasis on male, white heteronormativity. Both Liz Crow (1996) and Carol Thomas (1999) argue that the medical model of disability is inadequate because it does not take cognisance of the impact of impairment on people’s social lives and sense of identity. Crow points out that even if the environment itself were somehow rendered entirely accessible – with sign interpreters, ramps and disabled facilities, as well as appropriate accommodation, the disability itself persists as a lived, embodied experience, and one which is different from the perceived or dominant norm. Similarly, whilst the phenomenon of settled Travellers may, in certain circumstances, minimise or avoid certain incarnations of racism, it will never eliminate racism towards Travellers altogether. Furthermore, just because one’s identity is occluded or displaced due to the demands of a racist or otherwise oppressive norm, that does not mean one’s identity or experience of that identity has materially changed or been removed.