Disability, Self-Representation, and Care
In this paper, I examine the implications that the often-used slogan of disability rights, “Nothing about us without us,” has for our understanding of disability identity. I argue that externally labeling a person as disabled violates the principle of self-representation that is at the core of comm...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Western Ontario
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Feminist Philosophy Quarterly |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/fpq/article/view/16832 |
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| Summary: | In this paper, I examine the implications that the often-used slogan of disability rights, “Nothing about us without us,” has for our understanding of disability identity. I argue that externally labeling a person as disabled violates the principle of self-representation that is at the core of commitment to disability justice. But this concept of self-representation is complicated when we consider those deemed disabled who are incapable of communicating or perhaps even forming a disability identity. With these individuals in mind, I ask, How can self-representation be violated when a person is incapable of forming their own identity? What if external labeling is necessary for caregivers to provide care to their charges? In raising these questions, I seek to highlight how cases of noncommunicative individuals challenge us to rearticulate the meaning of self-identification and recognize the injustice of violating it, even when other obligations to them demand that we do so.
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| ISSN: | 2371-2570 |