Synopsis:
One of the topics which is largely ignored in the canon of transnational feminisms is disability. As discussed in transnational feminist discourse, the nation state categorizes migrants’ bodies to be deemed acceptable or unacceptable. As Harsha Walia asserts in her book Undoing Border Imperialism, bodies are judged in a capitalist society based on their potential to carry our labour, and thus contribute to neoliberal economic growth. The binary between the acceptable and unacceptable body has heterosexist, gendered, racialized, ageist, classist, and ableist implications. Focusing on ableism, the nation state adopts a medical view of disability, focusing on individualism and physical impairment, instead of social barriers which construct disability. This relates to neoliberalism, as a neoliberal ideology focuses on individual meritocracy and hides societal inequalities. Through ableism and neoliberalism, bordering practices deem which bodies are seen as acceptable citizens.
Rationale:
Ableism is important to discuss when analyzing bordering practices from a transnational perspective. Because bodies are judged based on normative capitalistic standards, disabled migrants that can not carry out physical labour are constructed as “disposable”, and are not accepted within the binary category of “citizen”. This also relates to militarism, colonization, and race. A militarized society uses social structures to determine which of its citizens are the most expendable, further naturalizing bodies and reinforcing norms. Thus, the neoliberal nation state uses bordering practices to protect the white, heterosexual, wealthy, cisgendered, able body. Ableism can be connected to multiple themes within transnational feminism such as anti-capitalist resistance, binaries, the “ideal body”, and militarism.
Reference
Walia, Harsha. Undoing Border Imperialism. Oakland, AK Press and the Institute for Anarchist Studies, 2013.
Keywords: Abelism, accessibility, disability, capitalism
Author: jbb28
Displaced people with disabilities confronts amplified risks in regard to encountering “violence, including sexual and domestic abuse, exploitation by family members, discrimination and exclusion from access to education, livelihoods, a nationality, and other public services” (UN – Disability, 2019). Disability is an important intersect within intersectionality as it determines one’s possession of power in relation to other able-bodied individuals. Furthermore, it poses as a detriment to a person’s ability to be recognized and given justice within the migrant/refugee context which is incredibly hindering to their health, social position, and ability to survive. Refugees and migrants with disabilities are more likely to be sidelined in every aspect of humanitarian and refugee assistance due to the environmental, societal, and physical barriers they…