Philosophical Inclusive Design: Intellectual Disability and the Limits of Individual Autonomy in Moral and Political Theory

Hypatia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Davy
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
Inclusive Design ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Relational Autonomy ◽  
Disability Theory ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Feminist Theories ◽  
Liberal Philosophy ◽  
Feminist Disability Theory ◽  
High Support

Drawing on the built environment concept of “inclusive design” and its emphasis on creating accessible environments for all persons regardless of ability, I suggest that a central task for feminist disability theory is to redesign foundational philosophical concepts to present opportunities rather than barriers to inclusion for people with disability. Accounts of autonomy within liberal philosophy stress self‐determination and the dignity of all individual persons, but have excluded people with intellectual disability from moral and political theories by denying their capacity for individual autonomy, seen as a chief marker of moral personhood. This paper modifies and extends feminist theories of relational autonomy by arguing for the need to view autonomy as a feature of persons that is manifested only through relations of support, advocacy, and enablement. An “inclusively designed,” relational account negotiates the tensions encountered in attempts to apply autonomy to people with high support needs, and politicizes the concept as an advocacy tool for people with intellectual disability and their allies.

The “Batty” Politic: Toward an Aesthetic of the Black Female Body

Hypatia ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 87-105
Author(s):  
Janell Hobson
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Women Artists ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Black Female ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Disability Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Feminist Disability Theory

I assess representations of black women's derrieres, which are often depicted as grotesque, despite attempts by some black women artists to create a black feminist aesthetic that recognizes the black female body as beautiful and desirable. Utilizing a black feminist disability theory, I revisit the history of the Hottentot Venus, which contributed to the shaping of this representational trope, and I identify a recurring struggle among these artists to recover the “unmirrored” black female body.

Islamist Women's Agency and Relational Autonomy

Hypatia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranjoo Seodu Herr
Keyword(s):  
Religious Values ◽  
Relational Autonomy ◽  
Women's Agency ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Feminist Theories ◽  
Women’S Agency ◽  
Gender Specific ◽  
Moral Capacity ◽  
The Ideal

Mainstream conceptions of autonomy have been surreptitiously gender‐specific and masculinist. Feminist philosophers have reclaimed autonomy as a feminist value, while retaining its core ideal as self‐government, by reconceptualizing it as “relational autonomy.” This article examines whether feminist theories of relational autonomy can adequately illuminate the agency of Islamist women who defend their nonliberal religious values and practices and assiduously attempt to enact them in their daily lives. I focus on two notable feminist theories of relational autonomy advanced by Marina Oshana and Andrea Westlund and apply them to the case of Women's Mosque Movement participants in Egypt. I argue that feminist conceptions of relational autonomy, centered around the ideal of self‐government, cannot elucidate the agency of Women's Mosque Movement participants whose normative ideal involves perfecting their moral capacity.

scholarly journals Mitigating the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on residential facilities for persons with intellectual disability and/or autism spectrum disorder: two experiences from the Italian red zone

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacopo Santambrogio ◽  
Michela Russo ◽  
Sergio Terrevazzi ◽  
Gianluca Peschi ◽  
Massimo Clerici ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
Service Evaluation ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Residential Facilities ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The People ◽  
Specific Vulnerability ◽  
The Impact ◽  
High Support

Purpose Persons with intellectual disability and/or low-functioning autism spectrum didorder are with high support need (ID/ASD-HSN) are among the people who are most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. The specific vulnerability and the protective factors for persons with ID/LF-ASD attending residential and rehabilitative facilities have however received little attention. This paper aims to describe how two facilities located in the Italian COVID-19 red zone faced the risks associated with the spread of the pandemic and the results they have achieved so far. Design/methodology/approach Interventions to contrast the spread of the pandemic and preserve clients’ health conditions have been systematically monitored and recorded since the very beginning of the pandemic. Findings 26/138 clients had to undergo clinical screening and laboratory tests for COVID-like symptomatology, but only one resulted affected by COVID-19 and survived. Considering that Lombardy had 89,595 cases and 16,262 deaths (January–May 2020), one COVID-19 case/138 clients is a good result. Temporarily limiting physical contacts with friends/family in favor of reducing the burden of risk and adopting a system of prevention/safety strategies directed for persons with ID/LF-ASD attending and their caregivers have been useful measures. Research limitations/implications Structured or semi-structured interviews (using professional caregivers as informant) to confirm behavioral and emotional changes in the clients could not be carried out because of lack of time and resources (which were captured by the management of the pandemic) and could be the next goal for our residential facilities to implement the management of epidemic acute phases in a research-oriented view. Originality/value This study is a service evaluation report about facing COVID-19 pandemic. Only few such studies are present in medical literature about ID/ASD.

The Silenced Voices of Hidden Survivors: Addressing Intimate Partner Violence Among Women With Disabilities Through a Combined Theoretical Approach

Affilia ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 088610992094455
Author(s):  
Caroline L. Muster
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Complex Trauma ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Women With Disabilities ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Gender Nonconforming ◽  
Disability Theory ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Feminist Disability Theory

As one of the world’s most vulnerable populations, women with disabilities are frequent victims of physical, emotional, sexual, and financial abuse. Indeed, they experience abuse at higher rates than women and men who do not have disabilities and men with disabilities. They are also more likely to experience intimate partner violence (IPV) than any other adult group. Yet there is not one psychosocial intervention tailored to the needs of women with disabilities who have experienced IPV that facilitates their recovery from complex trauma. This is largely the result of limited (albeit growing) research on the risk factors for IPV, barriers to leaving abusive relationships, and trauma-related issues that women with disabilities face, especially among racialized women with disabilities, 2SLGBTQ+ women and gender nonconforming persons with disabilities, older/aging women with disabilities, and other subgroups. In order to develop the most culturally competent, effective interventions and policies to address the prevalence of IPV among women with disabilities, an approach that is informed by a combination of critical disability theory, feminist disability theory, and complex trauma theory is recommended. IPV among women with disabilities is a global injustice; therefore, this concern is highly relevant to the field of social work and its mission to advance social justice.

scholarly journals Examples of individual supported living for adults with intellectual disability

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Errol Cocks ◽  
Stian H Thoresen ◽  
Patricia O’Brien ◽  
Keith McVilly ◽  
Allyson Thomson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
Informal Support ◽  
Support Needs ◽  
Host Family ◽  
The Third ◽  
Third Phase ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Supported Living ◽  
High Support

Background: This article provides a qualitative account of four models of support for adults with intellectual disability in individual supported living (ISL) arrangements. Materials and Methods: Completion of the first 50 evaluations of 150 arrangements for the third phase of the ISL project provided the examples. Results: Four approaches are described: living alone, co-residency, relationship and host family. Within each type, wide variations occur particularly based on security of tenure, formal and informal support and management variations. Conclusion: Fifty evaluations so far illustrated a wide range of approaches to ISL, providing evidence of the critical importance of the formal and informal support environment and reinforcing the contention that ISL is appropriate for people with high support needs.

scholarly journals Designing Collective Access: A Feminist Disability Theory of Universal Design

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aimi Hamraie
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Symbolic Meaning ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Human Variation ◽  
Disability Theory ◽  
Physical Environments ◽  
Feminist Disability Theory

<p>Universal Design (UD) is a movement to produce built environments that are accessible to a broad range of human variation. Though UD is often taken for granted as synonymous with the best, most inclusive, forms of disability access, the values, methodologies, and epistemologies that underlie UD require closer scrutiny. This paper uses feminist and disability theories of architecture and geography in order to complicate the concepts of "universal" and "design" and to develop a feminist disability theory of UD wherein design is a <em>material-discursive</em> phenomenon that produces both physical environments and symbolic meaning. Furthermore, the paper examines ways in which to conceive UD as a project of collective access and social sustainability<em>,</em> rather than as a strategy targeted toward individual consumers and marketability. A conception of UD that is informed by a politics of interdependence and collective access would address the multiple intersectional forms of exclusion that inaccessible design produces.</p><p>Keywords: universal design; collective access; interdependence; built environment; feminist theory</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

Education for Women and Girls with Disabilities in Ghana : A Powerful Tool for Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sefakor G.M.A. Komabu-Pomeyie
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Negative Experiences ◽  
The Public ◽  
Disability Theory ◽  
The World ◽  
Feminist Disability Theory ◽  
Education In Ghana

Women with disabilities (WWD) from countries around the world, including Ghana, are often deprived of public education. The World Report on Disability in 2011 estimated that literacy rates for WWD may be as low as 1%. This study employs critical feminist disability theory, combined with a phenomenological lens, to explore the educational experiences of ten Ghanaian WWD who have received public education in Ghana, and have had both positive and negative experiences. The results of these interviews yield policy and practice recommendations to improve access to, and success in education for more WWD in Ghana. These recommendations include the need to advocate and to implement Inclusive Education (IE) Policy in Ghana, to introduce disability studies in all school levels, to counteract negative cultural beliefs about people with disabilities, and to educate the public for changes in attitudes, especially teachers, students, and the community.

Toward a Theory of Black Deaf Feminism: The Quiet Invisibility of a Population

Affilia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reshawna L. Chapple
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Social Constructions ◽  
Critical Race Feminism ◽  
Disability Theory ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Feminist Disability Theory ◽  
Deaf Women ◽  
Black Deaf

This article considers ways to enhance the conceptualization of Black deaf women’s lived experiences through an intersectional lens. An intersectional framework places emphasis on how social constructions of blackness, gender, and deafness shape the identity and experiences of Black deaf women. To outline the need for such a theory, this article first examines social constructions of Black deaf women in the intersections of race, gender, and deafness in comparison to current research. Second, I discuss the relevancy of social theories (i.e., critical race feminism, feminist disability theory, and theoretical approaches prominent in critical deaf studies) in providing a conceptual framework for an analysis of identity in relation to race, gender, and disability. Finally, I introduce the tenants of Black Deaf feminism and discuss the ways Black Deaf feminism enhances intersectionality by centering the lived experience from the standpoint of Black deaf women.

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