In this paper I seek to make a contribution to ‘geographies of mobility’ by arguing that assumptions of unrestricted movement and mobility in contemporary Western societies are hegemonic in prioritising specific bodies and modes of mobility and movement. In particular, mobility and movement are defined through ‘normalising’ discourses which serve to alienate impaired bodies and to prioritise what one might term the ‘mobile body’. This has the effect of (re)producing structured inequalities in peoples' movement and mobility patterns. Such ideas are developed and illustrated with reference to interviews with disabled people.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbberleyP, 1987, “The concept of oppression and the development of a social theory of disability”Disability, Handicap, and Society2(1) 5–19
2.
BarnesCMercerGShakespeareT, 1999Exploring Disability: A Sociological Introduction (Polity Press, Oxford)
3.
BeinerR, 1992, “The normal vocabulary of liberalism”, in Virtue: Nomos XXXIV Eds ChapmanJGalstonW, (New York University Press, New York)
4.
BenhabibS, 1996, “The democratic moment and the problem of difference”, in Democracy and Difference: Contesting the Boundaries of the Political Ed. BenhabibS, (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ) pp 3–18
5.
BlomleyN, 1994, “Mobility, empowerment, and the rights revolution”Political Geography13407–422
6.
BloomerKMooreC, 1977Body, Memory, and Architecture (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT)
7.
BordenI, 1998, “Body architecture: Skateboarding and the creation of super-architectural space”, in Occupying Architecture: Between the Architect and the User Ed. HillJ, (Routledge, London) pp 195–216
8.
ButlerRBowlbyS, 1997, “Bodies and spaces: An exploration of disabled people's experiences of public space”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space15411–433
9.
CorkerM, 1998Deaf and Disabled, or Deafness Disabled? (Open University Press, Milton Keynes, Bucks)
10.
CorkerM, 1999, “Differences, conflations, and foundations: The limits to ‘accurate’ theoretical representation of disabled people's experience?”Disability and Society14627–642
11.
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, 1998A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone Cm 3950 (The Stationery Office, London)
12.
EllisK, 2000, “Welfare and bodily order: Theorising transitions in corporeal discourse”, in Social Policy and the Body: Transitions in Corporeal Discourse Eds EllisKDeanH, (Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hants) pp 1–22
13.
FeatherstoneM, 1995Undoing Culture (Sage, London)
14.
GleesonB, 1999Geographies of Disability (Routledge, London)
15.
GouldC, 1996, “Diversity and democracy: Representing differences”, in Democracy and Difference: Contesting the Boundaries of the Political Ed. BenhabibS, (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ) pp 171–186
16.
Greater London Council, 1985Women and Transport—A Need for a Change unpublished proceedings of a GLC Women's Committee Conference, October; copy available from author
17.
HallM, 1996Feminism and Sporting Bodies: Essays on Theory and Practice (Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL)
18.
HandleyP, 2000, “Trouble in paradise—a disabled person's right to the satisfaction of a self-defined need: Some conceptual and practical problems”Disability and Society16313–325
HineJMitchellF, 2001, “Privatised concerns: Individual words and travel experiences”Urban Studies38(1) forthcoming
21.
HobbesT, 1996Leviathan (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
22.
HughesB, 1999, “The constitution of impairment: Modernity and the aesthetic of oppression”Disability and Society14155–172
23.
HuxleyM, 1997, “Ecologically sustainable cities, environmentally friendly transport or just ‘more work for mother”’ conference proceedings Women on the Move TransAdelaide, 1–4
24.
ImrieR, 1994, “The policies and paradoxes of ‘greening’ the motor vehicle in the United Kingdom”, in Motor Vehicles in the Environment Eds NieuwenhuisPWellsP, (Belhaven Press, London) pp 76–96
25.
ImrieR, 1996Disability and the City: International Perspectives (Paul Chapman, London)
26.
ImrieR, 2000a, “Disabling environments and the geography of access policies and practices”Disability and Society15(1) 5–24
27.
ImrieR, 2000b, “Responding to the design needs of disabled people”Journal of Urban Design5199–220
28.
ImrieRKumarM, 1998, “Focusing on access in the built environment”Disability and Society13357–374
29.
JohnstonRGregoryDSmithD, (Eds), 1992The Dictionary of Human Geography (Blackwell, Oxford)
30.
LawR, 1999, “Beyond ‘women and transport’: Towards new geographies of gender and daily mobility”Progress in Human Geography23567–588
31.
Le Corbusier, 1925The Decorative Art of Today (Architectural Press, London)
32.
LederD, 1990The Absent Body (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL)
33.
LefebvreH, 1991The Production of Space (Blackwell, Oxford)
34.
Lévi-StraussC, 1955Tristes Tropiques (Penguin Books, New York)
35.
LittleJPeakeLRichardsonP, (Eds), 1988Women in Cities: Gender and the Urban Environment (Macmillan, London)
36.
LuptonD, 1994Medicine as Culture: Illness, Disease, and the Body in Western Societies (Sage, London)
37.
MaatKLouwE, 1999, “Mind the gap: Pitfalls and travel reduction mechanisms”Built Environment25(2)151–161
38.
MarshallS, 1999, “Travel reduction—means and ends”Built Environment25(2) 1–7
39.
MasseyD, 1994Space, Place, and Gender (Polity Press, Oxford)
40.
Matrix, 1984Making Space: Women and the Man-made Environment (Pluto Press, London)
41.
Merleau-PontyM, 1962Phenomenology of Perception (Routledge and Kegan Paul, New York)
42.
OliverM, 1990The Politics of Disablement (Macmillan, London)
43.
OliverM, 1996Understanding Disability: From Theory to Practice (Macmillan, London)
44.
OPCS, 1993The United Kingdom CensusOffice of Population Censuses and Surveys (HMSO, London)
45.
PatersonKHughesB, 1999, “Disability studies and phenomenology: The carnal politics of everyday life”Disability and Society14597–611
46.
PriestlyM, 1999Disability Politics and Community Care (Jessica Kingsley, London)
47.
RamseyM, 1998What's Wrong with Liberalism? A Radical Critique of Liberal Political Theory (Leicester University Press, Leicester)
48.
Royal National Institute for the Blind, 1995Building Sight (HMSO, London)
WhiteleggJ, 1997Critical Mass (Pluto Press, London)
51.
WilliamsR, 1977Marxism and Literature (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
52.
YoungI, 1990Justice and the Politics of Difference (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ)
53.
YoungI, 1996, “Communication and the other: Beyond deliberative democracy”, in Democracy and Difference: Contesting the Boundaries of the Political Ed. BenhabibS, (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ) pp 120–136
