Addressing Ableism
Philosophical Questions via Disability Studies
By (author) Jennifer Scuro With Devonya N. Havis, Lydia X. Z. Brown Foreword by Joel Michael Reynolds
Publication date:
25 October 2017Length of book:
276 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksISBN-13: 9781498540742
Addressing Ableism is a set of philosophical meditations outlining the scale and scope of ableism. By explicating concepts like experience, diagnosis, precariousness, and prosthesis, Scuro maps out the institutionalized and intergenerational forms of this bias as it is analogous and yet also distinct from other kinds of dehumanization, discrimination, and oppression. This project also includes a dialogical chapter on intersectionality with Devonya Havis and Lydia Brown, a philosopher and writer/activist respectively. Utilizing theorists like Judith Butler, Tobin Siebers, Emmanuel Levinas, and Hannah Arendt to address ableism, Scuro thoroughly critiques the neoliberal culture and politics that underwrites ableist affections and phobias. This project exposes the many material and non-material harms of ableism, and it offers multiple avenues to better confront and resist ableism in its many forms. Scuro provides crucial insights into the many uninhabitable and unsustainable effects of ableism and how we might revise our intentions and desires for the sake of a less ableist world.
Addressing Ableism is a transformative work. The book provides a detailed and rigorous archaeology of contemporary ableism, and compellingly argues for the ethical imperative to resist it. It provides a powerful framework for such resistance in not only in its content but also its form. Its fusion of philosophical analysis with memoir and social critique make it both intellectually and emotionally affecting, and Scuro’s dialogue with Lydia Brown and Devonya Havis models the kinds of conversations she hopes to provoke. This book is a major contribution to disability studies, and its insights expand the customary boundaries of the field.