Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of meaning-making, the theory of signs and symbols. Cultural phenomenon can be studied as communication.

• Focuses on the degree of and types of integration-exclusion of disabled people played out on several cultural levels: biological, social, medical, ethical, religious, etc.
• Semiotics (signs and symbols) within a society determine the relative integration or exclusion of people with bodily or behavioral differences.

Normal Project Examples

Creating peace

Whenever I hear normal, I think of being natural.

Healthy, good, acceptable, desirable, and so on

I used to try to push through exhaustion and felt guilty and ashamed if I couldn’t do what normal people do every day. That is another oppression of the word normal is that it can lead people to push their bodies beyond healthy limits.

Not something to aim for

I do deal with anxiety and depression, largely from older failed attempts at being normal, though other people’s reactions to my not trying to be normal are sometimes a contributing factor to my anxiety.

Henri-Jacques Stiker

1. Stiker, H. (2000, January). A History of Disability (Corporealities: Discourses of Disability). University of Michigan Press.