www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org A BIOPOLITICAL DECONSTRUCTIVE READING OF THE SHELTERED WORKSHOPS WITH REFERENCE TO DAVID FREEMAN'S PLAY CREEPS BETTY ELSA JACOB 1 & HELEN UNIUS BACKIAVATHY 2 1 Assistant Professor, Department of English, CMS College, Kottayam, Kerala, India 2 Assistant Professor, Department of English, Karunya Institue of Science and Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India ABSTRACT The paper attempts to study the effectiveness of sheltered workshops in the light of the experiences of people with disabilities. While the concept of sheltered workshop aims at transforming the 'zoe' of the disabled person, the purpose is not fully met. The dichotomy between what the sheltered workshops intended to do and what they turned out to be is very striking. Instead of elevating the people with disabilities to a state of 'bios', the sheltered workshops resulted in the creation of a group of 'homosacers' who were forced to sacrifice their passions for a monotonous work. The play Creeps by David Freeman belongs to the subgenre Disability Theatre. The play is set in a sheltered workshop for victims of cerebral palsy, where they are expected to contribute to the economy of the country through their labour at their own pace. Even though from the point of view of the able-bodied-society, it is a privilege to the disabled; from the point of view of the disabled, it is only an exercise of power on them. Some of them want to be artists, but they are considered unworthy of any other art other than packing and folding boxes. The dichotomy between what the Cerebral Palsy victims want to do and what they are doing now creates their sense of an ‘unworthy self’. The paper focuses on the able/disable power relations in the context of sheltered workshops and how they continue to socially disable these physically impaired people. It also looks at how these Cerebral Palsy victims take revenge on the able-bodied supervisors by using abusive language. KEYWORDS: Disability, Sheltered Workshops, Cerebral Palsy & Able/Disable Power Relations Received: Jan 11, 2019; Accepted: Jan 31, 2019; Published: Mar 06, 2019; Paper Id.: IJELAPR20195 INTRODUCTION The social stigma associated with disability is deeply rooted in the minds of people. Euphemisms like differently abled, physically challenged, mentally challenged are different names by which the society covers up this social stigma. Discourses on the inclusion of the disabled into the mainstream are being carried out in diverse arenas. Sheltered workshops have been formed with this objective of inclusion. This paper critically questions the success of these institutions and how they have negatively affected the people with disabilities, with regard to David Freeman’s play Creeps. The tools of deconstruction, Foucault’s Biopolitics and Agamben’s concept of the ‘homosacer’ are used for this study. Sheltered Workshops Sheltered workshops are organizations or institutions that employ people with disabilities separately, so that they can work at their own pace. They emerged in the United States almost hundred years ago, as an extension Original Article International Journal of English and Literature (IJEL) ISSN (P): 2249-6912; ISSN (E): 2249-8028 Vol. 9, Issue 2, Apr 2019, 29-34 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.