Queer/Disabled Existence: Human Rights of People with Disability

Abstract

Literature has always portrayed the queer/disabled people as the Other. People with disabilities and queer sexualities are generally subject of ridicule and abuse. Historically literature has aided in the social constructionism of disability phenomena in the society by depicting the disabled as something nocuous and undesirable. Furthermore, traditional representations of queer and/or disabled existence have always been biased and are usually about how the ‘able-bodied’ or the so-called ‘normal’ people perceive people with diverse forms of the body and queer sexualities. Yet it has been conspicuously silent as regards the plight of the people with disabilities and queer sexualities. However, in a departure from traditional representations of queer and/or disabled existence, Firdaus Kanga presents a first-hand account of the lived experiences of his precarious life in the Indian socio-cultural context and beyond. He has to his credit a series of critically acclaimed books such as Trying to Grow (1990), Heaven on Wheels (1991), The Godmen (1995), and The Surprise Ending (1996). As a severely disabled individual suffering from a crippling disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bones disease) Trying to Grow (1990), a semi-autobiographical novel, is a narrative of his lived experiences of disability and tryst with queer sexuality. While his other work, Heaven on Wheels (1991) is a discourse on queer sexuality and disability from the perspective of queer and disabled existence. Kanga critiques the ableist society’s treatment of the queer and the disabled which is tantamount to Human Rights abuse.