The Absence of Disability in Intersectional Feminism
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Interdisciplinary Studies
Faculty Mentor
Jennifer Disney, Ph.D.
Abstract
Intersectionality has been an incredibly important concept to feminism since it was first introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. Crenshaw used the term to describe the experiences of black women, who are often discriminated against based simultaneously on both their race and their gender. Since then, feminists have used intersectionality to point out that all people lie at the intersection of multiple social identities – race, gender, social class, religion, etc. – and that each of these identities is inseparable from the others. However, when discussing feminism in an intersectional way, the issue of ableism is often forgotten. According to the Institute on Disability, people with disabilities make up 19% of the population. This would make them the largest minority group in the United States, and yet we rarely, if ever, include them in conversations of intersectionality. I argue that we must put forth an effort to make our discussions as inclusive and accessible as possible, to ensure that we do not continue to erase the experiences of people with disabilities. In conclusion, this project, by closely examining feminist literature, sheds new light on the rarely acknowledged issue of the representation of disabled women
Previously Presented/Performed?
Southeastern Women's Studies Association (SEWSA) Conference, Winthrop University, March 2016
Start Date
21-4-2017 3:45 PM
The Absence of Disability in Intersectional Feminism
West Center, Room 221
Intersectionality has been an incredibly important concept to feminism since it was first introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. Crenshaw used the term to describe the experiences of black women, who are often discriminated against based simultaneously on both their race and their gender. Since then, feminists have used intersectionality to point out that all people lie at the intersection of multiple social identities – race, gender, social class, religion, etc. – and that each of these identities is inseparable from the others. However, when discussing feminism in an intersectional way, the issue of ableism is often forgotten. According to the Institute on Disability, people with disabilities make up 19% of the population. This would make them the largest minority group in the United States, and yet we rarely, if ever, include them in conversations of intersectionality. I argue that we must put forth an effort to make our discussions as inclusive and accessible as possible, to ensure that we do not continue to erase the experiences of people with disabilities. In conclusion, this project, by closely examining feminist literature, sheds new light on the rarely acknowledged issue of the representation of disabled women
