Feminism and disability

Abstract

Most women's lives are touched by disability, either their own limitations or those of someone for whom they care; and the institutionalised inequality that women face is no less a reality for women with disabilities. Yet to a great extent the feminist and disability communities have failed to form a significant coalition or even to comprehend women's experiences of disability. Written from Barbara Hillyer's perspective as a teacher of feminist theory and the mother of a young woman with multiple disabilities, Feminism and Disability blends personal, political and intellectual insights, aiming to enrich both feminist theory and disability theory. It explores issues of vital concern to women with disabilities and women caregivers: body awareness, community and reciprocity, fatigue, the supposed dichotomy between nature and technology, codependence and recovery programmes. The ways in which cultural standards of language, independence, pace, cheerfulness, mother-blaming and grief limit our understanding are explained and confronted. Throughout, Hillyer advocates that women recognise and integrate weakness along with strength. The text challenges political movements that emphasise productivity and normalisation to accommodate some less heroic aspects of the human condition: asserts that all people need help in development at all stages; argues that death is not always the worst thing that can happen to a person; claims that senility and degenerative diseases undermine belief in life as a growth process; and shows that some losses cannot be restored. Being limited and knowing it, Hillyer shows, permits both compassion and political co-operation. Feminism and Disability is a comprehensive survey of various specialised literatures decoded and compared in the light of women's autobiographical narratives of limitation and ability. Its conclusions are intended to be bold and liberating. Aiming to be a milestone in the development of feminism and disability rights, the book offers a holistic view that should energise discourse, influence policy and change lives.

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