"Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how a person's various social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege."
Investigates how disability intersects with other forms of marginalization, such as race, class, gender, and sexuality.
Disability Studies: This field of study focuses on the social, cultural, and political aspects of disability, emphasizing that disability is a social construct rather than a medical diagnosis.
Intersectionality: The concept of intersectionality was first introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw, and it refers to the interconnected nature of social identities, such as race, gender, sexuality, and disability. As such, it is important to consider how these identities interact with one another and shape individual experiences.
Ableism: This refers to discrimination against individuals with disabilities, and it is often rooted in able-bodied privilege and the assumption that able-bodied individuals are the norm.
Race and Disability: The intersection of race and disability is complex, given that individuals with disabilities who are people of color face unique challenges and discrimination.
Gender and Disability: Similarly, gender and disability intersect in complex ways, and individuals who identify as women, non-binary, or trans may face additional barriers.
Disability and Sexuality: Disability can often be stigmatized and desexualized, leading to isolation and erasure of sexual identities and experiences.
Access and Accommodation: Accessibility is a key issue for individuals with disabilities, and this includes physical access to spaces as well as accommodations for communication, mobility, and other needs.
Medicalization and Pathologization: Disability is often pathologized and medicalized, leading to stigma and a focus on "curing" rather than accommodating or accepting different abilities.
Language and Disability: The language we use when discussing disability can have a significant impact on the experiences of individuals with disabilities, and it is important to use person-first language and avoid ableist terms.
Activism and Advocacy: The disability rights movement has a long history of activism and advocacy, and it is important to learn about the work of disability activists and allies in creating a more inclusive and equitable society.
Race and disability: This intersectionality recognizes that people of color with disabilities face unique challenges, such as experiencing racism and ableism simultaneously.
Gender and disability: This intersectionality acknowledges that disabled individuals face specific challenges relating to their gender identity. For example, women with disabilities may encounter sexism and ableism at the same time.
LGBTQ+ and disability: This intersectionality considers the unique challenges faced by individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ as well as having a disability. This may include experiencing discrimination based on both of their identities.
Religion and disability: This intersectionality considers the unique challenges faced by individuals who identify as religious, along with having a disability.
Age and disability: This intersectionality recognizes that disabled individuals may face different challenges at different stages of life. For instance, older adults with disabilities may encounter ageism as well as ableism.
Socioeconomic status and disability: This intersectionality acknowledges that disabled individuals who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may face more significant challenges due to lack of resources.
Geographic location and disability: This intersectionality considers that the challenges facing disabled individuals may differ based on their country, region, or city of residence.
Education and disability: This intersectionality recognizes that individuals with disabilities may face disparities in educational opportunities and access to resources.
Marital status and disability: This intersectionality acknowledges that individuals with disabilities who are married or unmarried may face different challenges. For example, unmarried individuals may not have access to the same legal and financial protections as married individuals with disabilities.
"Examples of these factors include gender, caste, sex, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, disability, weight, and physical appearance."
"These intersecting and overlapping social identities may be both empowering and oppressing."
"Intersectional feminism aims to separate itself from white feminism by acknowledging women's differing experiences and identities."
"The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989."
"Intersectionality opposes analytical systems that treat each axis of oppression in isolation."
"In this framework, for instance, discrimination against black women cannot be explained as a simple combination of misogyny and racism, but as something more complicated."
"Intersectionality engages in similar themes as triple oppression, which is the oppression associated with being a poor or immigrant woman of color."
"Criticism includes the framework's tendency to reduce individuals to specific demographic factors, and its use as an ideological tool against other feminist theories."
"Critics have characterized the framework as ambiguous and lacking defined goals."
"As it is based in standpoint theory, critics say the focus on subjective experiences can lead to contradictions and the inability to identify common causes of oppression."
"However, little good-quality quantitative research has been done to support or undermine the theory of intersectionality."
"An analysis of academic articles published through December 2019 found that there are no widely adopted quantitative methods to investigate research questions informed by intersectionality."
"The analysis ... provided recommendations on analytic best practices for future research."
"An analysis of academic articles published through May 2020 found that intersectionality is frequently misunderstood when bridging theory into quantitative methodology."
"In 2022, a quantitative approach to intersectionality was proposed based on information theory, specifically synergistic information."
"In this framing, intersectionality is identified with the information about some outcome (e.g. income, etc.) that can only be learned when multiple identities (e.g. race and sex) are known together."
"Intersectionality is identified with the information about some outcome [...] that can [...] not [be] extractable from analysis of the individual identities considered separately."
"Critics [argue] the inability to identify common causes of oppression."
"Intersectionality broadens the scope of the first and second waves of feminism, [...] to include the different experiences of women of color, poor women, immigrant women, and other groups."