The Inadmissible “Other”: Discourses of Ableism and Colonialism in Canadian Immigration

This article reports on a critical discourse analysis study exploring how ableism, racism, and neocolonialism play out in Canadian immigration policies. Situated within critical social work theory as well as postcolonial and anticolonial theoretical frameworks, the study focused on Canadian immigration policies in relation to people with disabilities from the global South, an area that has not received sufficient attention in social work research and practice. Findings indicate that discourses concerning risk and protection are central in determining the admissibility and inadmissibility of immigration applicants and reinforce ableism, racism, and neocolonialism. The article concludes with implications for social work practice and research.     

The trouble with normal: the struggle for meaningful access for middle school students with developmental disability labels

This critical, qualitative study considers issues of access to the academic and social experiences of middle school for five students with labels of intellectual disability and autism through a lens of ableism and enforced ‘normalcy’. Starting from the position that schools are sites where ableist norms of performance leave many marginalized, this study privileges the perspective of individuals whose inclusion in school is most tenuous. Challenging the notion that mere access to general education classrooms and instruction is enough, this study interrogates questions of efficiency and meaningful engagement within the context of middle school. This paper first illustrates the ways that ableism pervades middle school settings and then outlines a typology of particular ways of being and performing that are privileged and an illusion of normalcy maintained. Finally, this article explores the implications of ableism and enforced normalcy on the engagement and participation of students considered to have developmental disabilities.     

Contesting disabling conditions of life in the Global South: disability activists’ and service providers’ experiences in Guyana

This article addresses an important gap in our understanding of issues of impairment and disability, namely challenges facing disabled activists and service providers in the majority world context of the developing nation of Guyana. The article argues that developing a southern standpoint on impairment, disability, disability activism and service provision requires a reframing of disability issues as matters of distributive justice and not only human rights. Challenges facing disability activists and service providers in Guyana included trying to combat internalized ableism, financial and cultural barriers to political engagement and visibility, tensions in claiming or rejecting disabled identities and difficulties in accessing foreign aid funding for disability initiatives. The article concludes by stressing the importance of rethinking how we do disability studies so that it allows critical analysis of the dynamics of a global capitalist corporeal class order in the context of the majority world.     

The cross-fertilization of critical race theory and Disability Studies: points of convergence/ divergence and some education policy implications

This article discusses the ways in which insights from critical race theory can be used in order to supplement and reinforce the field of Disability Studies by highlighting the intersecting and contextually contingent ways in which the notion of disability is constructed and positioned. The cross-fertilization of critical race theory and Disability Studies can enhance understanding of the intersecting effects of racism and disablism through a reflexive process of exploring points of convergence and divergence of racial and corporeal markers of difference. These understandings should permeate anti-discrimination legislation and other education policy frameworks aimed at redressing systemic injustices and power inequities that impact upon disabled people’s identities and lived experiences.     

Applying critical race theory in social work education in Britain: pedagogical reflections

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on personal experiences of teaching white British and Black African students on a social work Master’s course in England. In this paper, I critically discuss the fire at Grenfell Tower in London (14 June 2017) and how it served as a pedagogical tool to open up critical discussions among students about racial in/justice, intersectionality and neoliberal racism. I also explore how Black students were enabled to share their experiences of immigration, racism, and racial inequality in Britain as part of these discussions. Inviting personal experiences of race in the classroom can be highly emotive; but, as this paper shows, these voices can also highlight institutionalized racism and provide a way for Black and ethnic minorities’ histories to be told and learned. These histories matter and can develop student consciousness about racial inequality for pursuing a social agenda. They also challenge claims that Britain is now a ‘post-racial’ society. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) provided a way to counter such claims and critique my ‘whiteness’ and socio-economic class in my teaching, as well as challenge the neoliberal ideologies and structures that reproduce and mask ‘white privilege’ and racial injustice in Britain today.     

Elder abuse and oppression: voices of marginalized elders

The voices of elderly people from marginalized groups are rarely solicited, and the relationship between elder maltreatment and belonging to an oppressed group has not been adequately investigated. This article reviews the literature on oppression and elder abuse and describes findings from the secondary analysis of data from focus group discussions on elder abuse held with marginalized older adults and (quasi)professionals caring for them in two Canadian cities. Participants identified that increased vulnerability to elder abuse was related to oppression experienced as a consequence of ageism, sexism, ableism/disability, racism, heterosexism/homophobia, classism, and various intersecting types of oppression.     

Decolonizing Indigenous disability in Australia

Cultural diversity and social inequality are often ignored or downplayed in disability services. Where they are recognized, racial and cultural differences are often essentialized, ignoring diversity within minority groups and intersectionality with other forms of oppression. This is often an issue for Indigenous Australians living with disability. This paper argues that understanding Indigenous disability in Australia requires a critical examination of the history of racism that has systematically disabled most Indigenous people across generations and continues to cause disproportionate rates of impairment. Approaches that focus on the cultural ‘otherness’ of Indigenous people and fail to address taken-for-granted normative ‘whiteness’ and institutional and discursive racism are unable to escape that history.     

Elder Abuse and Oppression: Voices of Marginalized Elders

The voices of elderly people from marginalized groups are rarely solicited, and the relationship between elder maltreatment and belonging to an oppressed group has not been adequately investigated. This article reviews the literature on oppression and elder abuse and describes findings from the secondary analysis of data from focus group discussions on elder abuse held with marginalized older adults and (quasi)professionals caring for them in two Canadian cities. Participants identified that increased vulnerability to elder abuse was related to oppression experienced as a consequence of ageism, sexism, ableism/ disability, racism, heterosexism/homophobia, classism, and various intersecting types of oppression.     

Beyond the racist/hooligan couplet: race, social theory and football culture

This paper draws on recent research to explore the changing cultures of racism in English football. Starting from a critical analysis of key themes in the literature on football it seeks to show that existing analytical frameworks need to be reworked if they are going to adequately account for the complex forms through which racism is expressed in contemporary football cultures. In the course of this analysis we question some of the ways in which the issue of racism in football is collapsed into broader accounts of 'hooliganism' and other forms of violence among football fans. From this starting point the paper draws on some elements of our empirical research in order to outline an alternative way of framing the issues of racism and multicultrralism in football.     

Engaging with materialism and material reality: critical disability studies and economic recession

Critical disability studies has been accused of preoccupation with cultural, lingual and discursive matters, and in doing so failing to adequately engage with the often-harsh material reality of disability. This has contributed to a circumstance in which disability studies has produced a lack of material focused directly upon economic processes. Concurrently, disabled people have encountered a momentous economic recession that has threatened their basic economic and human rights. This article seeks to address what is evidently a gap in the burgeoning critical disability and disability studies literature. That is, a gap largely uninhabited by attempts to apply a critical disability studies perspective to macro-economic processes. The article focuses predominantly on two facets of critical disability studies as identified by Goodley: the self and other, and intersectionality. The article concludes that critical disability studies has much to offer through the production of new understandings of economic processes.     

Understanding the use of “twinkie,” “banana,” and “FOB”: Identifying the origin,role, and consequences of internalized racism within Asian America

Where does internalized racism come from? How is it sustained and perpetuated within the Asian American community? What is the role and consequence of internalized racism within the Asian American community? This article reviews the existing literature to map the origin, role, and consequences of internalized racism among Asian Americans. Research on internalized racism must examine more than individual behaviors, otherwise it falls victim to conceiving of individuals as “racial dupes” (i.e., an individual who has been deceived into supporting existing racial hierarchies and systems of racial inequalities). However, the research should also veer away from an over emphasis on individual agency and resistance because doing so ignores the larger structural systems of inequality that exist, via colonial mentality and racialization, which influence individual behaviors. Future research on internalized racism must engage both perspectives to hold accountable the connection between broader racialization processes and everyday interactions driven by internalized racism.     

Redefining antiracism: Learning from activists to sharpen academic language

People have fought against racism for as long as it has existed and yet it persists in diverse and materially impactful ways. The primary challenge to eradicating racism is likely the power of white privilege. This paper argues that another important obstacle to progress has been the lack of a clear definition of antiracism that movement activists and scholars can collaboratively use to ensure that antiracist scholarship and efforts meet the full measure of the term's intention. While academia has struggled to converge on a definition, “lay race theorists” and movement activists—Black women in particular, have been participating in discourse online and through other venues where consensus appears to be developing around a definition. This article attempts to summarize activist discourse in defining antiracism as “the commitment to eradicate racism in all its forms” and individual antiracism as “the commitment to eradicate racism in all its forms, by (1) building an understanding of racism and (2) taking action to eliminate racism “within oneself, in other people, in institutions, and through actions outside of institutions,” noting that “antiracism is an ongoing practice and commitment that must be accountable to antiracist Black people, Indigenous people, and other People of Color and consider intersectional systems of oppression.” While research on the public conversation benefits from its easy access and limited additional burdens on movement activists, future research should test these definitions with movement activists to ensure that definitions and metrics are as relevant to the antiracist movement as possible.     

Intersections of Multiple Oppressions: Racism,Sizeism, Ableism,and the “Illimitable Etceteras” in Encounters With Law Enforcement,

This think piece on the intersectionality of multiple oppressive markers incorporates critical race feminism, fat studies, body/embodiment studies, and dis/ability studies. It discusses the cases of two African Americans deemed irresolvable nuisances, treated as threats to police, and dealt with, with undue force, resulting in their untimely deaths. Eleanor Bumpurs, 66, was a black female of older age, ample size, with physical and mental disabilities; she was arthritic, fighting off hallucinations, and was economically disadvantaged. Eric Garner, 43, was a black male of ample size, with physical disabilities; he was diabetic, asthmatic, with sleep apnea and a heart condition, all of which made employment difficult for him. Intersectional identities determined what happened when each crossed paths with law enforcement. Intersecting oppressions of racism/classism/fat hatred/ageism/ableism/healthism resulted in the murder of Bumpurs in 1984 and Garner in 2014. Following Garner's execution, police supporters used multiple, intersecting forms of discrimination to sidestep the brutality: “Garner would've died going up a flight of stairs—he died because of preexisting medical conditions.” This article argues that besides perpetuating the long history of portraying African American men as hulking brutes or as genetically inferior, such justifications aim to divert attention away from structural racism, cloaking it in sizeism/ableism/healthism.     

The (Un)Happy Objects of Affective Community

Affect permeates understandings of racial and cultural mixture as well as racial democracy in Brazil. Sentiments of interconnectedness, harmony and conviviality shape the ways in which Brazilians of diverse races/colours feel identity and belonging. These sentiments also drive hopeful attachments to possibilities for moving beyond race, influencing how people encounter and relate to racism and inequality. However, studies of race in Brazil tend to either take the affective for granted as positive unifying force or ignore its role in shaping the appeal of dominant racial discourses on identity, nation and belonging. Through an examination of the different ways people feel, experience and live orientations towards mixture and racial democracy as the dominant affective community, this paper analyzes the role the affective plays in constituting racial ideologies and shaping anti-racist action. I explore the ways histories of race, racism, privilege and disadvantage generate unequal attachments to and experiences of mixture and racial democracy as what Sara Ahmed calls ‘happy objects’, those objects towards which good feeling are directed, that provide a shared horizon of experience, and that shape an affective community with which all are assumed to be aligned. Not everyone attaches themselves to the same objects in the same way and for the same reasons – the affective community involves positive, hopeful attachments for some and an unhappy, alienating and unequally shared burden for others. These affective states demonstrate that histories of race and racism cannot be wished away through commonly asserted attachments to abstract ideals of shared belonging. At the same time, examining these affective states provides deeper understanding of the ways unequal attachments move people towards action or inaction in relation to race, racism and discrimination.     

Reframing Black Social Work Students' Experiences of Teaching and Learning

This article draws on critical race theory (CRT) to foreground the role of race and racism in the ways in which Black students experience social work teaching and learning. It reviews some of the available literature on Black social work students' experiences of teaching and learning. The article reframes understandings of the perceived failures of this group of students to adapt to the world of higher education. It is argued that race and racism are salient determining factors in the experiences of Black students within social work education. Emphasis is placed on understanding the specificity of this group of students taking into cognisance the social, cultural, economic, and political contexts within which they are located. The article uses CRT as critical lens to reflect on peer support groups as potential counter spaces that can disrupt the negative experiences of black social work students.     

From disability to ability: changing the phrasing of the debate

Persons with disabilities have endured discrimination and live under social apartheid. While enlightened people recognise the role that society has in disabling people with impairments, there remains a struggle to remove the negative stigma associated with this form of social diversity. There is no silver bullet that will enable persons with disabilities to exercise their human rights as full citizens. One strategy to assist in this struggle is the use of language. This paper focuses on how language can be utilised in the struggle against oppression. This paper reconsiders how disability discrimination is conceived and labelled. There is no uniformly accepted label to describe the discrimination and oppression that is explained by the social model or the non-radical social model. This paper explores how the labels of disableism and ableism have emerged to explain this concept. This paper analyses these terms and argues for the adoption of ableist nomenclature.     

Feeling disability: theories of affect and critical disability studies

This paper explores connections between affect studies and critical disability studies. Our interest in affect is sparked by the beginnings of a new research project that seeks to illuminate the lives, hopes and desires of young people with ‘life-limiting’ or ‘life-threatening’ impairments. Cultural responses to these young people are shaped by dominant discourses associated with lives lived well and long. Before commencing our empirical work with young people we use this paper to think through how we might conceptualise affect and disability. We present three themes; ontological invalidation in neoliberal-able times; affect aliens and crip killjoys; disability and resistant assemblages.     

Impairment on the move: the disabled incomer and other invalidating intersections

In this article, I argue that disabled people and immigrants are subjected to similar forms of representation. I draw on examples from theology in the Christian Middle Ages, the influence of eugenics on late nineteenth and twentieth-century US immigration policy and welfare reform in contemporary neoliberal Britain. These vignettes are invoked as case studies to illustrate how ableism follows impairment on the move and to point to the ways in which the confluence of ethnocentric and ableist fantasies about strangers brings the history of disability and migration onto the same terrain of disrepute.     

Racism and Anti‐Racism in Families: Insights from Performativity Theory

Possibilities for anti‐racism within the spaces of family life have not yet been contemplated in any depth in the extant anti‐racism literature. To address this, the first section of this paper demonstrates that families are a potentially critical site for anti‐racism, reviewing a large body of evidence demonstrating the key role families play in socialisation processes and in the development of racial attitudes. I also look at what can be gleaned from the literature on interethnic intimacy. The second section turns to the possibilities for anti‐racism within families, suggesting that too little is known about how members of families negotiate instances of racism, or the strategies used to restage or subvert racist discourses and practices within the family. The potential for anti‐racist performances to challenge expressions of racism in families has largely been overlooked in the international literature. I argue that the framework of performativity has utility for analysing responses to racism in families. Performativity theories conceptualise individual acts/utterances of racism and anti‐racism as enacting broader cultural values and structures. Viewing racism in families through theories of performativity directs us to consider how racist speech can be disrupted or strategically rejected and, hence, identify possibilities for anti‐racism.