Disability Praxis: The Body as a Site of Struggle

by Bob Williams-Findlay

‘A masterful intervention that is particularly pertinent for an age of austerity, pandemic, and rising living costs’ Robert Chapman, author of Empire of Normality ‘A brilliant and much-needed contribution to current debates’ Ioana Cerasella Chis, University of Birmingham ‘A comprehensive analysis which also intelligently looks at how disability can fit into the modern world’ Joshua Hepple, activist, writer and disability equality trainer The rise of the extreme right globally, the crisis of capitalism and the withdrawal of all but the most punitive arms of the state are having a disastrous impact on disabled people’s lives. Bob Williams-Findlay offers an account of the transformative potential of disability praxis and how it relates to disabled politics and activism. He addresses different sites of struggle, showing how disabled people have advanced radical theory into the implementation of policies. Examining the growth of the global Disabled People’s Movement during the 1960s, Williams-Findlay shows how a new social discourse emerged that shifted the focus away from seeing disability as restrictions on an individual’s body, towards understanding the impact of restrictions created by capitalist relations. He shines light on the contested definitions of disability, asking us to reconsider how different socio-political contexts produce varied understandings of social oppression and how we can play a role in transforming definitions and societies. Bob Williams-Findlay is the founder of Birmingham Disability Rights Group and the former Chair of the national organization BCODP. He has written in various publications on the topic of disability politics.

Genres: Disability, Nonfiction, Politics, Theory, Disability Studies

240 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2023

Reviews

[mort reini · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book turned out to be not quite what I was expecting. the author himself states “I’m using the term ‘disability praxis’ to refer to bringing theory and practice together to challenge disabled people’s oppression.”
however, that’s not where it lands. what u get is a compilation of how different academics, health institutions, and activists described various disability-related concepts, which makes it a kind of “A said this, B said that, C said this … N said that, and I think that” theory book. I’m pretty okay with this kind of non-fiction literature, but that’s me - someone who willingly spent time reading lexicon dictionaries since childhood and considered it fun and interesting 🌚

beware that the style is quite dense and I wished a lot of the time for the thoughts to be articulated more clearly. so here’s my TLDR: the author challenges the definition of ‘people with disabilities’ insisting on ‘disabled people’ as in ‘disabled by society [and its organization].’ this perspective helps shift the focus from the personal to the socio-political realm and highlights disablism as a form of social segregation and oppression.

it was also interesting to track how British policymakers incorporated the language and concepts of the disability movements to move away from an emancipation agenda into a consumer-rights one (thus, marketing it as an individual = personal struggle, with capitalist socio-political exclusionary practices being a dutifully ignored elephant in the room).

[Zainab Salma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive book to learn about the relationship between theory and action of disability.

Buku ini terdiri dari 2 bagian; 1). Are there Four Cornerstones of Disability Politics?; 2). Towards a New Disability Praxis. Bagian pertama menambah pengetahuan kita tentang apa itu disabilitas, bagaimana terbentuknya organisasi disabilitas, bagaimana disabilitas memandang diri dan lingkungan. Bagian kedua membahas tentang gerakan organisasi disabilitas.

Banyak sekali insight yang saya dapat dari buku ini, menambah pondasi berpikir saya ketika membersamai teman-teman disabilitas. Satu hal yang harus kita ketahui adalah disabilitas merupakan sebuah kondisi yang dibentuk oleh struktur masyarakat (kapitalisme), jika negara mampu memberikan hak seluruh individu, tidak akan ada yang namanya disabilitas.

Lebih jauh lagi, hal yang paling berbahaya adalah ketika ketertidasan (opression) dari kelompok marjinal terinternalisasi- membuat mereka yakin bahwa ketidakadilan patut mereka terima karena kondisi biologis yang tidak sesuai dengan 'pasar'. Banyak dari kita yang tetap diam, karena kita tahu jika kita menyuarakan hak-hak kelompok marjinal, maka ada kenyamanan yang harus kita bayarkan.