Politics, Disability & The Cult of Personality

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Britian and more recently Governor of New York David Patterson are two political figures who are disabled and have been very vocal about saying so. I guess the first question that comes to mind is can this by a viable political tool or is this a product of 'Identity Politics' that is pervasive across western society. The fact is that while the argument can be made concerning both I believe there is a third alternative. That is humanizing disability - showing that through ones inconviences it does not impact ones ability to do the task at hand but just as important is the ability to unite people under a common understanding of a human expierence. After hearing Patterson's speech a few weeks ago based on his own expierence with disability he humanized the concept of reaching out to the disenfranchized and has an innate capacity to see the synergy.