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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Disablistic Practices of Womanhood

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In this article I examine twenty autobiographical texts, which include women's personal experiences of disability and womanhood, and are written by disabled women. Both the texts and the personal experiences are treated as social products which can, through their discourses, offer insight into the socio‐cultural practices and norms of disability and womanhood. Employing a Foucauldian discursive approach, the analysis of the texts focuses on references to the discourses and practices of disability and womanhood that can be disablistic, i.e. oppressive, exclusive, and disabling, to disabled women. I argue that more than by the impairment in itself, the experiences of disabled women are shaped by the social and cultural discourses and practices that define disability and womanhood as well as the normative roles, places, and contexts associated with them. The analysis covers issues such as practices of isolation, medical practices, and practices of motherhood, work, and caring. Simultaneous analysis of disabi...