Editing Disability studies (section)

==Intersectionality==
{{globalize section|the United States|date=July 2020}}
[[Feminism]] introduces the inclusion of [[intersectionality]] in disability studies. It focuses on [[race (human categorization)|race]], [[gender]], [[Human sexuality|sexuality]], [[Class (social)|class]] and other related systems of [[oppression]] that can also intersect with having a disability.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gillborn|first=David|date=2015|title=Intersectionality, Critical Race Theory, and the Primacy of Racism: Race, Class, Gender, and Disability in Education.|journal=Qualitative Inquiry |volume=21|issue=3|pages=277–287|doi=10.1177/1077800414557827|s2cid=147260539|doi-access=free}}</ref> From a feminist standpoint, there is a large concern for grasping multiple positions and differences among social groups.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tina Goethals|last2=Elisabeth De Schauwer|last3=Geert Van Hove|year=2015|title=Weaving Intersectionality into Disability Studies Research: Inclusion, Reflexivity and Anti-Essentialism|journal=DiGeSt. Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies |volume=2|issue=1–2|page=75|doi=10.11116/jdivegendstud.2.1-2.0075|jstor=10.11116/jdivegendstud.2.1-2.0075|doi-access=free|hdl=1854/LU-7214237|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Some research on intersectionality and disability has focused on the aspect of being part of two or more stigmatized groups and how these are contributing factors to multiple forms of harassment, the paradox known as "Double Jeopardy".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Shaw|first1=Linda R.|last2=Chan|first2=Fong|last3=McMahon|first3=Brian T.|date=2011-12-29|title=Intersectionality and Disability Harassment|journal=Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin |volume=55|issue=2|pages=82–91|doi=10.1177/0034355211431167|s2cid=145058696|issn=0034-3552}}</ref>

In academic settings and practices such as gender or women's studies the course work does not always highlight ideals of intersectionality and identity. But Sri Craven highlights the fact that in academia students and professors do not look at history in a culmination of the intersecting identities but rather focus in one perspective.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last=Craven|first=Sri|date=2019|title=Intersectionality and identity|journal=Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies |volume=40|issue=1 |pages=200–224|doi=10.5250/fronjwomestud.40.1.0200|s2cid=150983883|via=Gender Studies}}</ref> Craven and his colleagues include identities such as disability both mental and physical in an alternative course description to get students and faculty to think about identity, oppression and struggle in a new way.<ref name=":7" />

===Race===
Recent scholarship has included studies that explore the intersection between disability and race. [[Christopher Bell (scholar)|Christopher Bell]]'s work publicly challenged disability studies to engage with race, calling it "white disability studies".<ref>{{harvnb|Davis|2006|loc=Introducing White Disability Studies: A Modest Proposal. pp. 275–282}}</ref> His posthumous<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.ca/2009/12/obituary-chris-bell-disability-studies.html|title=Media dis&dat: Obituary: Chris Bell, disability studies scholar on race, HIV/AIDS, dies|author=BA Haller|date=2009-12-26|publisher=Media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.ca|access-date=2013-05-07}}</ref> volume on ''Blackness and Disability'' further developed his analysis.<ref name=":1">{{harvnb|Bell|2011}}</ref> These works engage with issues of [[Neoliberalism|neoliberal]] economic oppression. The 2009 publication of [[Fiona Kumari Campbell]]'s ''Contours of Ableism: The Production of Disability and Abledness'' signaled a new direction of research – studies in ableism, moving beyond preoccupations with disability to explore the maintenance of abledness in sexed, raced and modified bodies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gray |first1=Caroline |title=Contours of Ableism: The Production of Disability and Ableness |journal=Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews |date=November 2011 |volume=40 |issue=6 |pages=694–695 |doi=10.1177/0094306111425016h |s2cid=144766878 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1554978}}</ref> A. J. Withers' work critiques the social model of disability because, among other things, it erases the experiences of BIPOC people, women, trans and queer people and puts forward a more radical model of disability.<ref name=Withers12>{{Cite book|last=Withers|first=A. J.|title=Disability Politics and Theory|publisher=Fernwood|year=2012|isbn=978-1-55266-473-5|location=Black Point}}</ref>  Other contemporary works, such as literary studies conducted by [[Sami Schalk]] explore the intersection of disability and race and the use of dis/ability as a metaphor within the genre of black women's [[speculative fiction]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Bodyminds reimagined : (dis)ability, race, and gender in black women's speculative fiction|last=Samantha Dawn|first=Schalk |year=2018|isbn=978-0-8223-7073-4 |publisher=Duke University Press |oclc=985689502|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/bodymindsreimagi00scha}}</ref> Collectively, these works reflect an effort to deal with complex histories of marking racially "othered" bodies as physically, psychologically, or morally deficient, and traces this history of scientific racism to contemporary dynamics. Empirical studies show that minority students are disproportionately more likely to be removed from class or school for "behavioral" or academic reasons, and far more likely to be labeled with intellectual or learning disabilities.<ref name="Annamma2015"/>

In addition to work by individual scholars, disability studies organizations have also begun to focus on disability and race and gender. The Society for Disability Studies created the Chris Bell Memorial Scholarship to honor Bell's commitment to diversity in disability studies.<ref name="SDSBell">{{cite web|url=https://www.disstudies.org/awards/chris-bell|title=chris bell memorial scholarship|website=Society for Disability Studies|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402160435/https://www.disstudies.org/awards/chris-bell|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=dead|access-date=26 March 2015}}</ref> Postsecondary disability studies programs increasingly engage with the intersectionality of oppression. The [[University of Manitoba]] offers a course on "Women with disabilities".<ref name="ManitobaCourses">{{cite web|url=http://umanitoba.ca/disability_studies/contents/courses.html|title=Disability Studies Courses|website=University of Manitoba|access-date=26 March 2015}}</ref> Several recent masters' student research papers at [[York University]] focus on issues related to women with disabilities and people of African descent with disabilities.<ref name="York">{{cite web|url=http://cdis.gradstudies.yorku.ca/ma/mrp/|title=Completed MA Project Research Papers |website=York University|access-date=26 March 2015}}</ref>

===Feminism===
Feminism integrates the social and political aspects that makes a body oppressed while allowing empowerment to be present in acknowledging its culture. Scholars of feminist disability studies include [[Rosemarie Garland-Thomson]] and [[Alison Kafer]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Garland-Thomson|first1=Rosemarie|last2=Rodas|first2=Julia|date=2014|title=Book Reviews|journal=Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies|volume=8|issue=3|pages=361–369|doi=10.3828/jlcds.2014.30|issn=1757-6458}}</ref> Garland-Thomson explains that these related systems of oppression pervades all aspects of culture by "its structuring institutions, social identities, cultural practices, political positions, historical communities, and the shared human experience of embodiment". Garland-Thomson further describes that "identity based critical enterprises have enriched and complicated our understandings of social justice, subject formation, subjugated knowledges and collective action".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Garland-Thomson|first=Rosemarie|url=https://www.english.upenn.edu/sites/www.english.upenn.edu/files/Garland-Thomson_Rosemarie_Disability-Feminist-Theory.pdf|title=Integrating disability, transforming feminist theory|journal=NWSA Journal|volume=14|issue=3|date=2002|pages=1–32|doi=10.2979/NWS.2002.14.3.1 |doi-broken-date=2024-11-14 |jstor=4316922}}</ref> Feminism works towards [[accessibility]] for everyone regardless of which societal oppressive behavior makes them a [[minority group|minority]]. Although physical adjustments are most commonly fought for in disability awareness, psychological exclusion also plays a major role oppressing people with disabilities. The intersection of disability and feminism is more common in American history than we{{who|date=May 2021}} think yet it does not show up in media, museums or archives that are dedicated to feminist work. Rachel Corbman, a professor of women's, gender and sexuality studies at Stony Brook University in New York highlights how the influence of lesbian feminist organizations like the [[Disabled Lesbian Alliance]] (DLA) are not represented in the archives of literature and documentation of events in the community.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Corbman|first=Rachel|date=2018|title=Remediating disability activism in the lesbian feminist archive|journal=Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies|volume=31|issue=1 |pages=18–28|doi=10.1080/10304312.2018.1404672|s2cid=148871788|via=Academic Search Premier}}</ref> The DLA work closely together to fight for visibility, accessibility and acceptance of individuals whether they are disabled, or lesbian or both. Corbman's article highlights the beginning of disability activism during the feminist movement of the 1970s and 1980s and how the intersecting identities enticed new members and activists from across the country to join the cause. Other disability-centered feminist organizations that are part of the feminist archives include the Lesbian Illness Support Group and Gay and Lesbian Blind (GLB).<ref name=":3" /> [[Sara Ahmed]] elaborates the mental exclusiveness of privilege in "Atmospheric Walls": there is an atmosphere surrounding minority bodies, explaining why an intersectionally privileged person could be made uncomfortable simply by being in the same room as a person of color, or in this case someone with a disability.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ahmed|first=Sara N.|url=https://feministkilljoys.com/2014/09/15/atmospheric-walls/|title=Atmospheric Walls|work=Feministkilljoys|date=2014|access-date=10 October 2016}}</ref> Feminists and scholars also developed theories that put attention on the connection of gender and disability. Scholars like Thomas J. Gerschick argue that disability plays a big role in processing and experiencing gender, and people with disabilities often suffer stigmatization towards their gender, since their disabilities may make their body representation excluded by normative binary gender representation.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gerschick|first=Thomas J.|date=2000-07-01|title=Toward a Theory of Disability and Gender|journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society|volume=25|issue=4|pages=1263–1268|doi=10.1086/495558|s2cid=144519468|issn=0097-9740}}</ref> Gerschick also argues that this stigmatization can affect the gendering process and self-representation of people with disabilities. Ellen Samuels explores [[Gender studies|gender]], queer sexualities, and disability.<ref>{{cite web|date=2013-02-27|title=Department of Gender and Women's Studies|url=http://www.womenstudies.wisc.edu/professional-pages/samuels.htm|access-date=2013-05-07|publisher=Womenstudies.wisc.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Women and Disability: Feminist Disability Studies [Disability Studies&#93;|url=http://disabilitystudies.syr.edu/resources/feministdisabilitystudies.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618113705/http://disabilitystudies.syr.edu/resources/feministdisabilitystudies.aspx|archive-date=2013-06-18|access-date=2013-05-07|publisher=Disabilitystudies.syr.edu}}</ref> Feminists also look into how people with disabilities are politically oppressed and powerless. Abby L. Wilkerson argues that people with disabilities are politically powerless because they are often desexualized, and the lack of sexual agency leads to the lack of political agency. Wilkerson also indicates that the [[erotophobia]] towards minority groups like people with disabilities further oppresses them, since it prevents these groups from gaining political power through sexual agency and power.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wilkerson|first=Abby|date=2002|title=Disability, Sex Radicalism, and Political Agency|jstor=4316923|journal=NWSA Journal|volume=14|issue=3|pages=33–57|doi=10.2979/NWS.2002.14.3.33 |doi-broken-date=2024-11-14 |s2cid=143408839}}</ref>

===Critical disability theory===
At the intersection of disability studies and [[critical theory]] is critical disability theory.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|last=Hall|first=Melinda C.|title=Critical Disability Theory|date=2019|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2019/entries/disability-critical/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Winter 2019|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2019-12-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Pothier |editor-first=Dianne |editor2-first=Richard |editor2-last=Devlin |title=Critical Disability Theory: Essays in Philosophy, Politics, Policy, and Law |publisher=UBC Press |series=Law and Society Series |date=2006 |isbn= 978-0-7748-1204-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LcoupGWnvSYC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Bell |editor-first=Christopher |title=Blackness and Disability: Critical Examinations and Cultural Interventions |series=Forecaast Series |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |date=2011 |isbn=978-3-643-10126-6 |oclc=1147991080 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2N8uMz6g02gC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Meekosha |first1=Helen |last2=Shuttleworth |first2=Russell |date=November 2009 |title=What's so 'critical' about critical disability studies? |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1323238X.2009.11910861 |journal=Australian Journal of Human Rights   |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=47–75 |doi=10.1080/1323238X.2009.11910861 |issn=1323-238X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The term ''crip theory'' originates in Carrie Sandahl's article "Queering the Crip or Crippling the Queer?: Intersections of Queer and [[Crip (disability term)|Crip]] Identities in Solo Autobiographical Performance". It was published in 2003 as part of a journal issue titled "Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies |date=2003|publisher=Duke University Press|editor-first1=Abby Lynn |editor-last1=Wilkerson |editor-first2=Robert |editor-last2=McRuer |isbn=0-8223-6551-0|location=Durham, N.C.|oclc=52353836}}</ref> [[Christopher Bell (scholar)|Christopher Bell]]'s <ref name=":0" /> ''Blackness and Disability'';<ref name=":1" /> and the work of [[Robert McRuer]] both explore [[Queer theory|queerness]] and disability. Work includes the intersections of race and ethnicity with disability in the field of education studies and has attempted to bridge [[critical race theory]] with disability studies.<ref name="Annamma2015">{{Cite journal|last1=Annamma|first1=Subini Ancy|last2=Connor|first2=David|last3=Ferri|first3=Beth|date=18 November 2015|title=Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit): theorizing at the intersections of race and dis/ability|url=https://www.academia.edu/2258717|journal=Race Ethnicity and Education|volume=16|issue=1|pages=1–31|doi=10.1080/13613324.2012.730511|s2cid=145739550}}</ref>

*2006 ''Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability'' by Robert McRuer<ref>{{Cite book|title=Crip theory : cultural signs of queerness and disability|last=McRuer |first=Robert |date=2006|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=978-1-4356-0039-3 |oclc=173511594}}</ref>
*2011 ''Feminist Disability Studies'' by Kim Q. Hall<ref>{{Cite book|title=Feminist disability studies|last=Hall |first=Kim Q. |isbn=978-0-253-00518-2 |oclc=757757449 |publisher=Indiana University Press }}</ref>
* 2012 ''Sex and Disability'' by Robert McRuer, Anna Mollow<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sex and disability|date=2012|publisher=Duke University Press |last1=McRuer |first1=Robert |last2=Mollow |first2=Anna |isbn=978-0-8223-5140-5 |oclc=741103630 |doi=10.1215/9780822394877}}</ref>
* 2013 ''Feminist, Queer, Crip'' by Alison Kafer<ref name=Kafer13/>
*2018 ''Crip Times: Disability, Globalization, and Resistance'' by Robert McRuer<ref>{{Cite book|title=Crip Times|last=McRuer|isbn=978-1-4798-0875-5 |publisher=New York University Press |oclc=1124542554 |date = 2018}}</ref>
*2018 ''Disability Studies and the Environmental Humanities: Toward an Eco-Crip Theory'' by Sarah Jaquette Ray, Jay Sibara, Stacy Alaimo<ref>{{Cite book|title=Disability Studies and the Environmental Humanities: Toward an Eco-Crip Theory |editor-last=Ray |editor-first=Sarah Jaquette |editor2-last=Sibara |editor2-first=Jay |last=Alaimo |first=Stacy |isbn=978-0-8032-7845-5 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press|oclc=985515273 |date = 2017 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1p6jht5 |jstor=j.ctt1p6jht5}}</ref>
*2019 ''The Matter of Disability: Materiality, Biopolitics, Crip Affect'' by David T. Mitchell, Susan Antebi, et al.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The matter of disability : materiality, biopolitics, crip affect |editor-last=Mitchell |editor-first=David T. |editor2-last=Antebi |editor2-first=Susan |editor3-last=Snyder |editor3-first=Sharon L. |isbn=978-0-472-05411-4 |doi=10.3998/mpub.9365129 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |oclc=1055263568|year = 2019}}</ref>
Most of the literature above is written by individual authors in the United States but there is nothing on there from other countries that depicts disability and sexuality in the same context. Myren-Svelstad, a Norwegian scholar compares two deviant novels in Norway's society, Nini Roll Anker's ''Enken [the Widow]'' written in 1932 and Magnhild Haalke's ''Allis sønn [Alli's Son]'' written in 1935.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Myren-Svelstad|first=Per Esben|date=2018|title="Anachrony, Disability, and the Gay Man"|journal=Föreningen Lambda Nordica|volume=1-2|pages=62–84|via=Gender Studies}}</ref> They both depict a queer man who is also disabled. The disability being depicted as someone whose mental capacity is significantly different than society's heteronormative view. The significance of the movements began to build momentum and most legal recognition in the 1980s. It was only in 1973 that the [[American Psychiatric Association]] removed homosexuality from their list of mental disorders.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Drescher|first=Jack|date=2015|title=Out of DSM: Depathologizing Homosexuality|journal=Behavioral Sciences|volume=5|issue=4|pages=565–575|pmc=4695779|pmid=26690228|doi=10.3390/bs5040565|doi-access=free}}</ref> In addition to this, it was about forty years later in 2013 that the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' ([[DSM-5]]) changed the listing of transgender to "gender dysphoria".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders|last=American Psychiatric Association|date=2013-05-22|publisher=American Psychiatric Association|isbn=978-0890425558 |doi=10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596|hdl=2027.42/138395|citeseerx=10.1.1.988.5627|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/diagnosticstatis0005unse}}</ref>

One of the most notable circumstances where the case of these two minority rights come together was the court case ''[[In re Guardianship of Kowalski]]'', in which an accident that occurred in 1983 left 36-year-old Sharon Kowalski physically disabled with severe brain injuries.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/07/us/gay-groups-are-rallied-to-aid-2-women-s-fight.html |url-access=subscription |title=Gay Groups Are Rallied To Aid 2 Women's Fight|last=Brozan|first=Nadine|work=The New York Times |date=7 August 1988 |access-date=2018-10-18 }}</ref> The court granted guardianship of her to her homophobic parents who refused visitation rights to her long time partner, Karen Thompson. The court case lasted nearly ten years and was resolved by granting Thompson custody in 1991.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/18/us/disabled-woman-s-care-given-to-lesbian-partner.html |url-access=subscription |title=Disabled Woman's Care Given to Lesbian Partner|last=Lewin|first=Tamar|work=The New York Times |date=18 December 1991 |access-date=2018-10-07 }}</ref> This was a major victory in the realm of gay rights but also called to attention the validity of rights for those who identified under the queer and disabled spectrum. Numerous support groups emerged from necessity to create safe spaces for those identifying in these specific minority groups such as the founding of the Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf in 1977,{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} the Lesbian Disabled Veterans of America group in 1996{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} which then became the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Disabled Veterans of America, and the San Francisco Gay Amputees group in 2006.

A 2012 study showed that disability was more common in LGBTQ individuals when compared to heterosexual peers.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Fredriksen-Goldsen|first1=Karen I.|last2=Kim|first2=Hyun-Jun|last3=Barkan|first3=Susan E.|date=2012|title=Disability Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults: Disparities in Prevalence and Risk|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=102|issue=1|pages=e16–e21|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2011.300379 |doi-access=free |issn=0090-0036|pmc=3490559|pmid=22095356}}</ref> It was also shown that the LGBTQ group with disabilities were noticeably younger in age than the heterosexual group. In a 2014 study of intersecting identities found that "disabled women whether gay, straight, bisexual or otherwise identifying have a harder time finding romantic relationships due to their socioeconomic status and ability.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|first1=J. D. |last1=Drummond |first2=Shari |last2=Brotman |date=October 2014|title=A Queer Woman's Experience of Disability and Sexuality|journal=Sex Disability|volume=32|issue=4 |pages=533–549|doi=10.1007/s11195-014-9382-4|s2cid=207237014|via=Gender Watch}}</ref> Drummond and Brotman introduce the idea that the lesbian disabled community face many barriers because of discrimination in the form of ableism, homophobia, racism and more due to intersecting identities and interests.<ref name=":4" />

It is also a large topic of discussion to say that both groups have to undergo the same kind of "coming out" process in terms of their sexual identity, gender identity, and disability identity because of the lasting social stigma.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Vaughn M, McEntee B, Schoen B, McGrady M |date=2015|title=Addressing Disability Stigma within the Lesbian Community|journal=Journal of Rehabilitation|volume=81 |issue=4 |pages=49–56 |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/43888838/Lesbian___Disability.pdf}}</ref> "Coming out" through sexual identity, gender identity, and disability identity is one example of "Double Jeopardy", as they are part of more than one stigmatized group.

[[Eli Clare]] writes at the intersection of disability and transgender studies, namely as to how these disciplines can learn from each other. Similarly to how there is a 'coming out' for both transgender people and people with disabilities, there is a lack of bodily privacy both groups are faced with, primarily due to an over-medicalization of the body. Clare also works to make the distinction between bodily and medical truths, where one's diagnosis and medical treatment as a transgender or disabled person does not dictate their embodiment and how they navigate the world. Eventually, Clare reaches the idea of a disability politics of transness, which "delves into the lived experiences of our bodies, that questions the idea of normal and the notion of cure, that values self-determination, that resists shame and the medicalization of identity".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Clare|first=Eli|title=The Transgender Studies Reader 2|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|editor-last=Stryker|editor-first=Susan|pages=265|chapter=21. Body Shame, Body Pride: Lessons From the Disability Rights Movement|editor-last2=Aizura|editor-first2=Aren |isbn=978-0-8147-6109-0 |oclc=173511594}}</ref>

=== Queer theory ===
[[Queer studies]], which emerged from [[women's studies]], brings light towards the different kind of oppression [[queer]] and [[transgender]] people with disabilities have. Queer studies are commonly associated with people with disabilities who identify as "Crip" and is commonly believed that queer politics must incorporate crip politics.<ref>{{Cite web|last=McRuer |first=Robert |title=Cripping Queer Politics, or the Dangers of Neoliberalism |website=S&F Online |url=http://sfonline.barnard.edu/a-new-queer-agenda/cripping-queer-politics-or-the-dangers-of-neoliberalism/ |issue=10.1–10.2 |date=Fall 2011 – Spring 2012}}</ref> Alison Kafer describes a first-person experience of identifying queer and crip both reappropriated terms in Kafer's ''Feminist Queer Crip''. Kafer describes the politics of the crip future and "an insistence on thinking these imagined futures — and hence, these lived presents — differently".<ref name=Kafer13/>

An aspect of disability studies that is not often talked about is that of the perception of seeing disabled individuals as invisible.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Pieri|first=Mara|title=The Sound that You Do not See. Notes on Queer and disabled Invisibility|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12119-018-9573-8|journal=Sexuality & Culture|year=2019|volume=23|issue=2|pages=558–570|doi=10.1007/s12119-018-9573-8|hdl=10316/83472|s2cid=150327003|via=Gender Studies|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Also known as "queer/disabled invisibility".<ref name=":5" /> In disability studies the individuals who are disabled who make it into academic course work are usually the ones who struggle not only with being disabled and facing ableist norms of society but they also have to contend with other identities such as being queer, a woman or a person of another race other than cis-gendered white male in America. Queer/disabled invisibility can also come up in forms of negative perceptions about the way a disabled individual is being raised. For instance, queer mothers raising a disabled child are often viewed as the cause of the child's disability.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gibson|first=Margaret|date=2018|title=Subtle Neglect and Yuckiness: Queerness, Disability and Contagion in Mother Narratives|journal=Feminist Formations|volume=30|issue=1 |pages=117–140|doi=10.1353/ff.2018.0006|s2cid=149587802|via=Gender Watch}}</ref> Another example of queer and disabled negativity is highlighted in the life experiences of Josie, a young woman who does not identify as a particular gender, living with a lifelong illness and disability.<ref name=":4" /> This young woman describes how she experienced sexism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia in a number of ways at her university, the queer community and medical providers because of her disability. The discrimination the women in these examples is part of the heteronormative, ableistic perspective in societies around the world today but are rarely discussed in the literature or during disability studies courses.

=== Political economy and social class ===
Within class comes multiple avenues for intersectionality through disability. Disability looks different from a middle class, upper class, and lower class perspective, as well as through race, gender, and ethnicity. One's social class can contribute to when a person becomes disabled, rather it be sooner or later.<ref name=Kafer13>{{Cite book |author-link=Alison Kafer |last=Kafer |first=Alison |title=Feminist, Queer, Crip |date=2013 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-00941-8 |oclc=846495065 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4X6yaiCNOcC&q=Feminist,+Queer,+Crip&pg=PP2}}</ref> For example, where there is poverty we will find disability.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2zYEDQAAQBAJ&q=Disability+Studies:+An+Interdisciplinary+Introduction&pg=PP1|title=Disability Studies: An Interdisciplinary Introduction|last=Goodley|first=Dan|date=2016 |publisher=Sage|isbn=978-1-4739-8693-0 }}</ref> This poverty can include social, economic, and cultural poverty. Having a disability can contribute to poverty just as poverty can contribute to having a disability.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Poverty and Disability: A Survey of the Literature|last=Elwan|first=Ann|year=1999}}</ref> People with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty and be unemployed than those who do not, resulting in lower socioeconomic status.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/disability.aspx|title=Disability & Socioeconomic Status|website=apa.org |access-date=2018-10-07}}</ref> Some scholars have argued that disability, as it is understood today, is interlocked with class and capitalism.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Russell|first=Marta|title=Beyond ramps: Disability at the end of the social contract: A warning from an Uppity Crip|publisher=Common Courage Press|year=1998|location=Monroe}}</ref><ref name=Withers12 /> Intellectual disability, as it is understood today, is the product of the industrial revolution as workers unable to keep up with fast-paced factory work were pathologized.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Harder|first1=Henry G.|title=Comprehensive Disability Management|last2=Scott|first2=Henry G|publisher=Elsevier Science|year=2005|location=Philadelphia}}</ref>

Robert McRuer challenges hegemonic, neoliberal capitalism as the agent that drives the dominant cultural and market priorities and further argues that capitalism drives compulsory able-bodiedness.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McRuer |first=Robert |date=2007 |title=Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability |url=https://dsq-sds.org/index.php/dsq/article/view/60/60 |journal=Disability Studies Quarterly |volume=27 |issue=4 }}</ref>  In ''Feminist, Queer, Crip'', Alison Kafer states "My goal is to contextualize, historically and politically, the meanings typically attributed to disability, thereby positioning "disability" as a set of practices and associations that can be critiqued, contested, and transformed."<ref name=Kafer13/>