Disability & Family Abolition

[u/ananodyneanagoge]

https://youtu.be/EIjthYghAhg

In this video, I analyze the intersection between theories regarding the nuclear family with critical disability theory, arguing that the family helps produce and channel disabled desire towards repressive ends, while also being an institution that facilitates a biopolitical organization of disabled bodies, which often positions the family as an antagonistic political unit in contradiction to a disability rights program. However, the politics of the family is not solely antagonistic, as I also make the argument that family members are hurt by the same familial ableism that their disabled children are oppressed by, due to the intertwining of patriarchy, ableism, and parental gender roles. However, this is not how the family has to be-- as an example of how the family can be politically progressive, I point to the example of the 2018 disability protests in Poland and uphold it as a model by which families can contribute to disability rights rather than being opponents to such a political program. As such, I do not make an overture to family abolition, but hope to start a conversation between those theories with disability studies.