The name is absent

396

Newman discusses this problem of the handicapped. He asserts

that

the most important social limitations of blindness
are not those that result from the inability to see;
the limitations imposed by the prejudices and reactions
of the wider society are the most damaging. The
handicapped are viewed as undesirable in all spheres of
American society. Physical minorities are usually
relegated to obscure positions in society. In this way,
most individuals with visible handicaps become both
dependent upon, and marginal to, society (Newman, 1973,
34-35).

In examining the notion of identity as integration into a group,
it could be postulated that many urban Aborigines find their identity
in rejection from mainstream society because they are handicapped.

Fields says

There is nothing in the Aboriginal society of 1971
to be proud of: to be bom an Aboriginal is a
handicap they must live with all their lives. There
is nothing in Aboriginal society with which to realise
security. I am a handicapped person requiring special
benefits to help me survive (Fields, in Tatz, 1975:13).

The identity of ’the handicapped' is a very real one offered

to Aboriginal people.

23.9 Anomie

God heroes and spirit beings, who inhabited the
earth before man was created laid down the law.
They laid down the orderly process for a community
to develop and to survive (Gilbert, in Tatz, ed.,
1975:8).

The disintegration of these structures, through 'colonization',
'theft of land', imposition of a role of passivity has led, in Gilbert's
view,to structures bringing about anomie.

The Aborigines are 'people without a purpose'. They are neither
white nor Aborigine.

They know very well they cannot be treated as a white
man, because they are not and they are never treated
as a white man. They cannot be Aborigines, because
they don't know what it is to be culturally identified.
They are a people without purpose and meaning in life
(ibid:9).

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