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Understanding Disability: Theories, Oppression, and Intersectionality in Embodiment

This comprehensive exploration, prepared by Claire Kelly, delves into disability through the lenses of constructionist and essentialist theories, examining how bodies are socially constructed and devalued. The discourse highlights the dimensions of disability oppression, drawing parallels with other marginalized groups, and emphasizes intersectionality—how overlapping identities multiply vulnerabilities. Kelly critiques cultural norms that dictate deviations from a ‘universal subject,’ employing insights from notable theorists like Goffman and Foucault, and calls for a reevaluation of disability within our social and cultural frameworks.

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Understanding Disability: Theories, Oppression, and Intersectionality in Embodiment

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Ablism and Embodiment Diversity Literacy Week 3 Prepared by Claire Kelly

  2. Understanding disability Prepared by Claire Kelly • Constructionistand essentialismare theoretical strategies for framing the body – invoked for specifics ends (Thomson, p. 23) • A constructionist approach loosens the social meanings and values attached, or pegged onto bodies which vary from the norm to allow us to see how bodies have been devalued • And essentialist approach allows for the formation of community and positive identity - standpoint BUT BEWARE SOCIOBIOLOGY!

  3. 3 Dimensions of Disability Oppression Prepared by Claire Kelly “The logic of disability oppression closely parallels the oppression of other groups.” (Charlton, p. 23) • Political economy and the world system • Cultures and belief systems • (False) Consciousness and Alienation Hegemony:“…. myriad structures and practices of material, daily life enforce the cultural standard of a universal subject with a narrow range of corporeal variation” (Thomson, p. 24)

  4. Intersectionality Prepared by Claire Kelly • As different layers of a cake (additive) • Double/triple/quadruple burdens • Vulnerabilities e.g. disabled girls more likely to be sexually abused • Political intersectionality e.g. motherhood and sexuality • As co-construction (mutually constitutive) • E.g. Disabled bodies feminised, female bodies disabled

  5. Construction of disability in Western culture Prepared by Claire Kelly “The greatest challenge in conceptualizing oppression of any kind is understanding how it is organized and how it is reproduced” (Charlton, p. 29) • Goffman – Stigma • Social process through which traits are deemed not only different but deviant • Mary Douglas - “Matter out of place”: The Concept of “Dirt” • Cultural intolerance of the anomaly • Foucault – “Docile Bodies” • Medicalisation and hierarchisation of bodies

  6. Disabled by… Prepared by Claire Kelly “I woke up and my whole world was different” • Disabled as adjective – This body is disabled. • Disabled as passive noun – This body is disabled by these stairs. • “… disability is the systematic social interpretation of some bodies as abnormal, rather than the actual physical features.” (Thomson, p. 34) • Disability as cultural and linguistic minority i.e. if everybody learned sign language, people who couldn’t hear wouldn’t be disabled

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