Lmartell’s Weblog

When I was reading Tanya Titchkosky’s views on disability identity; I began to ponder my own definition of identity. One that did not seem to include anything revolving around disability; however, I am always open to change. I must admit that I had never before in my life given identity such serious consideration. So here is my rant…..

Most people want to make meaning out of their lives and the seeming chaos of the world around them. Identity helps us find our way in the world and decide what we stand for. It can be a compass that guides us. It is based on values and character, and also a sense of responsibility to each other, the past, and the future. Identity is about making the most of life and living. Exploring the idea of identity offers a glimpse not only into human relationships, but also the human spirit. I believe identity is fundamental to what it is to be human, and that a sense of identity is largely what’s missing today for numerous people. We are desperate for connection and meaning. We are desperate for a sense of where we’ve come from, who we are, where we’re going, and why we’re going there.

Identity is an uncertain category. What identity is exactly and how to define it often proves difficult. Definitions vary across places and within places. I can only truly explain what it means to me growing up in Pondville, located on Isle Madame, off the southeast tip of Cape Breton. It was a pleasure to have grown up in such an awe-inspiring place. My family, culture and neighbourhood shaped my formative years. To me, identity includes the skills, abilities of individuals, values, the way the people live their lives, festivities, traditions, activities of the community, networks, trust, love, loss, pain, joy, memories and hopes. So to are the natural world, the air, ecosystem, animals, and marine life. Of course, this now would include disability.

My identity was largely achieved through music, food, shared system of beliefs, attitudes, values, activities, commitments, camaraderie, a sense of belonging, place, history, culture and “rootedness” at home on the ocean. Isle Madame has a rich history, passed on from generation to generation. It is a land of step-dancers, fiddlers, music, stories, songs, folk culture, knitting, preserving and ceilidhs. A thick slab of meat pie, bread dressing, mustard pickles, corn chowder, and fish cakes are home, warm, accessible and authentic. Many people are drawn towards our beautiful old buildings and we feel a strong pride that goes along with the wood and nails. Due to the lifestyles of early people from Isle Madame many of their houses were built upon hillsides by the sea. This would allow for easy access to the water for fishing. With the beautiful beaches, high tides, rock faces, spectacular views, all surrounded with lovely evergreens, maples, and blueberry fields, it is indeed a captivating area. History is the foundation of a region, the roots of a community, the creation of ties to the land and the people who make it home. Isle Madame reveals a past moulded by the rigors of fishing, farming, and tough living conditions. We pride ourselves on being welcoming. Some might even say it is our claim to fame. I know, growing up, my experience has been that there is always room for more and the kettle can always be filled again. In our community this tradition is alive and well, as our visitors and friends can attest to.

People from Isle Madame are of Acadian, Scottish and Irish descent. The Island has shaped them just as they strove to shape the Island. Since then settlers have arrived from all over the world and have made their own distinct contributions to the Island. We are still aware of our past and are engaged in some of the oldest and most rudimentary forms of labour, farming, logging, and fishing. Some mothers live with the possibility of their husbands’ or sons’ imminent deaths at sea and families hold themselves together by the strength of their culture and heritage. Most of my relatives’ lives were critically vulnerable to if not determined by environmental conditions such as climate, the sea, the region’s depleting fishery, and were well within reach of devastating economic poverty. There are meaningful personal histories, memories, heritages, traditions, values, hopes, and life lessons passed along from generation to generation. We are connected by the identity passed down from those who came before us; and the identity we pass down to those who come after us.

The family, as the oldest and most deeply rooted human institution, has been the primary context through which we learn who we are, where we come from, how we fit into society, and what kind of person we might become. Connections across generations in families have been the glue that bonded families, giving information and identity from the past, which created depth and meaning in the present, which in turn again charts the future. Social and demographic changes of the past century have profoundly affected families. We face many issues and stressors in our lives, both as individuals and as members of families; sparse economic resources, fewer societal and governmental supports, family members spread across the country, increasingly complex relationships with extended, blended, and single-parent families, and greater demands in the workplace to name just a few. As well, life expectancy has increased and fertility has decreased. The shape of the family structure has changed as people live longer and have fewer children. For most of human history, the structure of families looked like a pyramid, with few older members at the top and many young members at the bottom. Today, families are shaped more vertically with a more equal number of members in each generation with new balances in obligations and responsibilities to one another.

Families give children identity, a foundation, and the good, complicated network you can work with across the course of your lifetime. Buddhists say that families are filled with ten thousand joys and ten thousand sorrows. Families are complicated; they are not always easy or straightforward. Oddly enough, life is exactly the same. We are connected to our family through a shared personal history, responsibility, tears, and, yes, love. Families can also portray the sadness of a fading world. Parents, torn between wanting better opportunities for their children and wanting to keep their families together, bid good-bye to sons and daughters headed for the big cities. Their children, torn between their loyalty and love for their hard-working parents and grandparents and their dread of becoming just like them, yearn for the world beyond Isle Madame and other parts of Cape Breton. Grandfathers and grandmothers, often living alone for years, remain perched in their original hand-built homes watching as their way of life gradually erodes into the modern world and their families fade before their eyes. Sadly the generations are becoming strangers to each other.

In a time when so many people are searching for meaning, it’s about creating something meaningful and lasting. A meaningful identity may take many forms, children, grandchildren, a business, an ideal, a book, a home, music, a disability, some piece of you. At its core, identity is that piece of you that makes a difference in the big puzzle of the universe. We all have a piece to contribute. It’s up to us to fashion it and put it into place. It may be a big piece. It may be a small piece. But each piece matters. The idea is that some people, no matter what their age, have more of it than others, or at least choose to be more conscious of it. Not everyone focuses on identity. Neither education nor privilege seems to be connected with identity, but successfully dealing with challenges faced earlier in life may. In reality disability had little to do with my identity and so much more to do with home and family. I can not help but wonder if that makes me fortunate or ignorant? Perhaps a bit of both.