"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."
Examines how the experiences of people with disabilities differ based on intersections of identity.
The Social Model of Disability: The social model views disability as a socially constructed phenomenon, primarily a result of the barriers that exist in society, including prejudices, stereotypes, and discrimination. This approach focuses on removing these obstacles to fully include individuals with disabilities in society.
Disability Rights Movement: The disability rights movement is a social justice movement that advocates for equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities. It gained traction in the 1960s and has since resulted in significant legal and social changes to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities.
Ableism: Ableism refers to the systematic discrimination and oppression of people with disabilities in favor of nondisabled individuals. It is characterized by negative attitudes, stereotypes, and assumptions about disability and the people who experience it.
Universal Design: Universal design is an approach that seeks to develop products, environments, and services that are usable by people with a wide range of abilities, disabilities, and ages. It aims to make the world more accessible, inclusive, and equitable.
Medical Model of Disability: The medical model views disability as a personal medical problem that needs to be cured, fixed, or rehabilitated. It focuses on individual impairments and conditions, rather than the systemic barriers that prevent full participation in society.
Disability and Identity: Disability is a complex and multifaceted identity that intersects with other aspects of identity, such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status. Understanding the intersectional nature of disability can enhance our understanding of social justice and disability rights.
Disability and Education: Education is a critical factor in the inclusion and success of people with disabilities. Understanding the history and current state of disability education, as well as effective classroom strategies, can benefit both students and educators.
Disability and Employment: The unemployment and underemployment rates of people with disabilities remain disproportionately high despite various legislative and policy efforts. Understanding the barriers to employment and successful models of inclusion can help improve the employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
Disability and Health: People with disabilities often face significant health disparities and may experience barriers to accessing healthcare. Understanding the intersection of disability and health and promoting healthcare access and equity can help address these disparities.
Disability and Media Representation: Media representation of disability can significantly impact public attitudes, perceptions, and stereotypes. Understanding how disability is portrayed in various forms of media and promoting more accurate and positive representations can help advance disability rights and inclusion.
Disability and Technology: Assistive technology and accessible design can significantly improve the lives of people with disabilities. Understanding the role of technology in disability inclusion and promoting equitable access to technology can benefit the entire disability community.
Disability and Independent Living: Independent living refers to the ability of people with disabilities to live independently and make their own decisions. Understanding the principles of independent living and advocating for policies and programs that support it can enhance disability rights and inclusion.
Disability and Advocacy: Disability advocacy is essential to promoting disability rights and inclusion. Understanding the history and current state of disability advocacy, effective advocacy strategies, and the role of disability advocacy organizations can benefit both advocates and people with disabilities.
Disability, Leisure, and Sport: Leisure and sport can significantly enhance the quality of life and inclusion of people with disabilities. Understanding the importance of leisure and sport as well as the barriers to participation can help promote more accessible and inclusive opportunities for people with disabilities.
Critical disability studies: This field of study examines disability as a social, cultural, and political construct, challenging the dominant narratives that perpetuate medical models of disability.
Disability and race studies: This field of study focuses on exploring the intersections of race and disability, examining how these two factors intersect and impact the lives of people with disabilities from racially marginalized communities.
Disability and gender studies: This field of study examines how gender identities intersect with disability, exploring the ways in which gender norms and expectations shape the experiences of people with disabilities.
Disability and sexuality studies: This field of study explores how sexual identity intersects with disability, examining how people with disabilities navigate sexual relationships, sexuality, and sexual expression.
Disability and culture studies: This field of study examines how cultural practices and beliefs impact the treatment of people with disabilities, exploring how different cultures perceive disability and how this shapes the lives of people with disabilities.
Intersectional disability studies: This field of study involves examining the multiple and intersecting identities of people with disabilities, such as ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, and social class.
Disability and education studies: This field of study examines the experiences of people with disabilities in educational settings, exploring the policies, practices, and attitudes that shape their access to and participation in education.
Disability and employment studies: This field of study examines the experiences of people with disabilities in the workforce, exploring the challenges they face in finding and maintaining employment, and policy solutions to support their employment.
"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."