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Being Exceptional

Special Issue: Law and the Imagining of Difference

ISBN: 978-1-78756-031-4, eISBN: 978-1-78756-030-7

Publication date: 12 June 2018

Abstract

This chapter contributes to the discourse of difference by problematizing the sameness/difference trope through the lens of the exceptional. It explores the nature of being exceptional with an expectation that its nature is contingent and variable. At the heart of understanding what constitutes exceptional is its implicit comparison with the average. While exceptional is defined to include both individuals who achieve in extraordinary ways and individuals with a physical or mental impairment, the two definitions are consonant in that both describe individuals who deviate from expected norms. Relying on the insights from pragmatism, this chapter considers community habits exceptional individuals must confront in forming their choices. In this way, it further adheres to the lessons from pragmatism for norm change. The strategies individuals use to alter the effects of being perceived as exceptional contribute to the overall discourse in equality and equal protection and potentially constitute the individual action that formulates change. It examines some approaches to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) derived from civil rights and from economic perspectives and the relevant matrix of choices available to the exceptional to understand the potential for productive change. With this foreground, it examines the choice of exceptional individuals to cover or convey matters of their identity. This chapter pays particular attention to these choices in seeking accommodations under the ADA. Ultimately, this study strives to participate in the conversation seeking to maximize human potential.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

I thank Austin Sarat for including me in the Law and Imagining Difference Symposium, held at the University of Alabama School of Law. I appreciate the feedback from Austin and the symposium contributors, Megan Conway, Douglas Ne Jaime, Julie Suk, as well as from the Dean, Mark Brandon, and the participants in the Imagining of Difference Symposium. I also express gratitude to the University of Miami School of Law librarians for their invaluable research assistance and to my colleagues Caroline Mala Corbin and Patrick Gudridge for selflessly taking time to comment on these efforts.

Citation

Fenton, Z.E. (2018), "Being Exceptional", Sarat, A. (Ed.) Special Issue: Law and the Imagining of Difference (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 75), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 79-106. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-433720180000075003

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited