Pitied but Ignored? Discrimination Toward Disabled People in Politics and Policy

Session Submission Type: Virtual Created Panel

Session Description

How do perceptions of disabled people factor into policies, elections, and protests? The papers on this panel use diverse approaches (theoretical, experimental, and text analysis) to better understand discrimination towards and representation of disabled people. The papers consider how stereotypes about disabled people are used as tactics in protests; how disabled candidates frame their disability and how such frames are perceived by voters; how disability leads to discrimination in health and education policy in the middle of a pandemic; and who speaks for disabled people in policy debates. This panel consists of scholars attempting to bring attention to the role of ableism in politics, since so often disabled people are rendered invisible in political science.

Sub Unit

• Theme Panel

Individual Presentations

• Who Speaks for Disabled Workers? Legislative Activity at Westminster - Amy L. Atchison, Valparaiso University

• Bodies in Resistance: ADAPT, the AHCA protests, and the Rhetoric of Rights - Ann Kathleen Heffernan, University of Michigan

• Voter Evaluations of Disabled Candidate Self-Presentations in Campaigns - Stefanie Reher, University of Strathclyde

• The Last Ventilator: Disability, Discrimination and Resource Distribution - Elizabeth Bell; Ari Neeman; Monica C. Schneider, Miami University; Dara Z. Strolovitch, Yale University

Chair

• Anna Daily Mount Holyoke College

Discussants

• Lisa Schur Rutgers University-New Brunswick

• Elizabeth A. Sharrow University of Massachusetts Amherst