I first became familiar with the relationship between feminism and disability when I was assigned reading from the anthology Feminist Disability Studies. With essays from writers such as Rosemarie Garland-Thomson and Alison Kafer, it is an incredibly powerful collection, demonstrating how the interests of feminist theory and disability studies overlap. And yet, despite the efforts of these scholars and disabled feminists in academia and in activist groups, disability does not seem to be on the broader feminist agenda. Similar to the Garland-Thomson and Kafer essays we read, I hope to make the case as to why a specifically feminist focus on disability within academia and activism is not taking away from the current feminist movement, and in
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Some women have been left out because they are not a part of the mainstream feminist image: that of the white, middle-class, heterosexual, able-bodied, liberated feminist. At one point, Moharty explains her concerns that Western feminist discourse is becoming relevant to only white women: “some American feminist texts and arguments [...] have been critiqued for their homogenizing, even colonialist, gestures; they have been critiqued, in fact, by those most directly affected by the exclusions that have made possible certain radical and cultural feminist generalizations” (Mohanty 88). She may not mention disability explicitly, but her broader ideas of homogenization are significant. These normative characteristics of a Western feminist have affected disability studies, where abledness and whiteness are …show more content…
From my previous class on disability narratives, I learned of feminist philosophers such as Susan Sontag, Rosemary Garland-Thomson, Anita Silvers, and anthologies like Feminist Disability Studies and Gendering Disability that have done a large amount of work on invisible disability, the language used when describing those who are disabled, and the relationship between gender and disability. In addition, numerous queer theorists, like Eli Clare and Alison Kafer, have expanded on disability studies to include queer disability theory, which has helped demonstrate the interconnectedness of these disciplines. I mention these various scholars to emphasize that these are not new ideas - academics have recognized the important relationship between feminist theory and disability studies. The concern is the lack of widespread
Some women have been left out because they are not a part of the mainstream feminist image: that of the white, middle-class, heterosexual, able-bodied, liberated feminist. At one point, Moharty explains her concerns that Western feminist discourse is becoming relevant to only white women: “some American feminist texts and arguments [...] have been critiqued for their homogenizing, even colonialist, gestures; they have been critiqued, in fact, by those most directly affected by the exclusions that have made possible certain radical and cultural feminist generalizations” (Mohanty 88). She may not mention disability explicitly, but her broader ideas of homogenization are significant. These normative characteristics of a Western feminist have affected disability studies, where abledness and whiteness are …show more content…
From my previous class on disability narratives, I learned of feminist philosophers such as Susan Sontag, Rosemary Garland-Thomson, Anita Silvers, and anthologies like Feminist Disability Studies and Gendering Disability that have done a large amount of work on invisible disability, the language used when describing those who are disabled, and the relationship between gender and disability. In addition, numerous queer theorists, like Eli Clare and Alison Kafer, have expanded on disability studies to include queer disability theory, which has helped demonstrate the interconnectedness of these disciplines. I mention these various scholars to emphasize that these are not new ideas - academics have recognized the important relationship between feminist theory and disability studies. The concern is the lack of widespread