Is it possible to create a politically engaged, contextual psychology of disability?
Date
2012-03
Authors
Watermeyer, Brian
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Routledge
Abstract
Until recently disability studies has ignored questions regarding the psychological
nature of oppression. Proponents of the social model have viewed such concerns
as diversionary, diluting their emphasis on material and economic barriers to
inclusion. This paper argues that the discipline’s role of reflecting and
interrogating disablism will remain incomplete and lacking in transformative
power without undertaking a psychological conceptualisation of disabled personhood.
Some prior attempts at elaborating the social model to include the
psychological realm have been presented; these are critiqued, and argued to lack
truly psychological conceptualisation. Preliminary ideas regarding a proposed
psychology of disablism are presented. The focus of this work will be the exploration
of bi-directional links between disablist ideology and disabled subjectivity,
operationalised through interpersonal and institutional processes of lifelong socialisation.
Reflections towards development of the under-theorised notion of internalised
oppression are presented. Conclusions are that a combination of critical
psychoanalytic insights and the participatory methods of liberatory and feminist
psychology hold promise in driving disability transformation.
Description
The original publication is available at www.tandfonline.com.
Keywords
Disability -- Psychological aspects, Internalised oppression, Lifelong socialisation
Citation
Watermeyer, B. 2012. Is it possible to create a politically engaged, contextual psychology of disability. Disability & Society, 27(2), 161-174, doi:10.1080/09687599.2011.644928.