The Minority Body
Author | : Elizabeth Barnes |
Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
Total Pages | : 213 |
Release | : 2017-04-14 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780191046551 |
ISBN-13 | : 0191046558 |
Rating | : 4/5 (51 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Elizabeth Barnes argues compellingly that disability is primarily a social phenomenon—a way of being a minority, a way of facing social oppression, but not a way of being inherently or intrinsically worse off. This is how disability is understood in the Disability Rights and Disability Pride movements; but there is a massive disconnect with the way disability is typically viewed within analytic philosophy. The idea that disability is not inherently bad or sub-optimal is one that many philosophers treat with open skepticism, and sometimes even with scorn. The goal of this book is to articulate and defend a version of the view of disability that is common in the Disability Rights movement. Elizabeth Barnes argues that to be physically disabled is not to have a defective body, but simply to have a minority body.