3121 - Social Justice through the Lens of Disability

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

Disability is a fundamental aspect of social stratification yet too often undertheorized and naturalized in sociological scholarship. The American legal system as well as our social welfare systems are founded upon preconceived ideas of personhood and distinguish among fit/unfit, worthy/unworthy citizens in the receipt of rights (Baynton, 2001; Minow, 1990; Nielsen, 2014) and social supports (Katz, 2013). Because we fail to incorporate disability into theories of inequality, we further overlook disability in our conceptualizations and pursuit of social justice.
The very idea of social justice demands attention to disability for several reasons. First, scholarship on embodiment explores the ways in which injustice is written on our bodies and social justice must embrace diverse bodies produced naturally and actively through systems of inequality. Embodiment further ties into work on the socio-geographic and spatial distribution of power that fuels inaccessible/accessible, inclusive/exclusive environments. Second, disability demands that we rethink the myth of the autonomous citizen and take vulnerability and relationality into account. Martha Nussbaum’s capability approach, for example, asks how we ensure human dignity to a population with diverse abilities and needs, acknowledging that even with equal distribution of resources needs and abilities vary. Third, disability affects models of self-advocacy and organizations in attaining social justice, rethinking ableism and “compulsory ablebodied” norms and action as they manifest even within rights movements and “progressive” organizations. Finally, the bases of social justice- such as access to creative production, equitable distribution of resources, and/or open civic dialogue – must each be reconsidered to imagine if and how these bases include and operate in a world with disability.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Session

Session Organizers

• Allison C. Carey, Shippensburg University

• Heather E. Dillaway, Wayne State University

Presider

• Allison C. Carey, Shippensburg University

Individual Presentations

• Critical Disability Studies and Epistemic Justice - Michelle Fine, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Austin Oswald, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Emese Ilyes, The Graduate Center, CUNY

• The Costs of Exclusion and the Fight for Inclusion - Sara E. Green, University of South Florida

• Prisons and Criminal Injustice as Disability and Social Justice Issues - Liat Ben-Moshe, University of Illinois-Chicago

• Rethinking Interdependence: Desiring Messy Dependency - Akemi Nishida, University of Illinois at Chicago