Register: Please email s.r.hannam-swain@shu.ac.uk a link will be sent around 10am on the morning of the presentation.
Talk 1, Title: “You are such an inspiration!”: Unpacking Covert Ableism through the lens of Disability Micro-Aggressions
Talk 1, Abstract:
The predominant focus of the disability rights movement, guided by the social model of disability, seems to revolve around addressing macro-level systematic oppression like inaccessibility and discriminatory institutional policies. Bringing the ‘body’ back in the discussion, disability scholars shift the gaze of contemporary research from “spotlight on disability to a more nuanced exploration of epistemologies and ontologies of ableism” (Campbell, 2018), calling for a study of the “pathologies of non-disablement” (Hughes, 2007). Ableism is the affirmation of able-bodiedness and social norms embedded in culture throughout history and exists within the subtleties of daily interactions disguised as well-intentioned comments or behavior. Sue (2010) defines microaggressions as “the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely on their marginalized group membership” and categorizes it into micro-assaults, microinsults and microinvalidation. Extracting some initial thoughts from my PhD project that looks at how disabled persons in Pakistan experience ableism, disablism and reframe normalcy in dis/ability worlds, I will, in this talk, specifically reflect upon how wheelchair users experience ableist societal structures. It may be discussed how benevolent, hostile and ambivalent forms of ableism also act as exclusionary practices, with same consequences as active discrimination.
References:
- Campbell, F. (2018). Refocusing on the Paradigm Shift: From Disability to Studies in Ableism. In Disability in South Asia: Knowledge and Experience (pp. 39-57). SAGE Publications.
- Hughes, B. (2007). Being disabled: Towards a critical social ontology for disability studies. Disability & Society, 22(7), 673-684.
- Sue, Derald W. 2010. Microaggressions in everyday life Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation. New Jersey. John Wiley & Sons.
Disability Research Forum 