Weaponizing Ableism: The Continual Relevance of the Holocaust Through a Critical Disability Theory Lens

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Theoretical Understandings of Disability Studies in Education

Abstract

The systematized slaughter of children and adults with disabilities prior to World War II operationalized mechanisms which followed later in the death camps of the Holocaust. The murder of children with disabilities represents weaponized ableism and is significant because, conflated with racism and anti-Semitism, it traced a path to current forms of oppression. Recognized in dehumanization, invisibility, and dis-memberment, the same type of ableism continues presently. Although the theme of ableism in the Holocaust is not emphasized in current educational conversations, by turning to critical disability theory and the idea of enmemberment, it might be possible to envision intersectional resonance between Holocaust scholarship and ableism. Critical disability theory offers educators robust analytical tools for praxis.

Author

• Anne J. Steketee, Millikin University