Ablism and EmbodimentDiversity Literacy Week 3

Prepared by Claire Kelly

Understanding disabilityConstructionist and essentialism are 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!

Prepared by Claire Kelly

3 Dimensions of Disability Oppression “The logic of disability oppression closely parallels

the oppression of other groups.” (Charlton, p. 23)

1. Political economy and the world system

2. Cultures and belief systems

3. (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)

Prepared by Claire Kelly

Intersectionality1. 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

2. As co-construction (mutually constitutive) E.g. Disabled bodies feminised, female bodies

disabled

Prepared by Claire Kelly

Construction of disability in Western culture“The greatest challenge in conceptualizing oppression

of any kind is understanding how it is organized and how it is reproduced” (Charlton, p. 29)

1. Goffman – Stigma Social process through which traits are deemed not

only different but deviant

2. Mary Douglas - “Matter out of place”: The Concept of “Dirt”

Cultural intolerance of the anomaly

3. Foucault – “Docile Bodies” Medicalisation and hierarchisation of bodies

Prepared by Claire Kelly

Disabled by…“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

Prepared by Claire Kelly