A critical evaluation of the current understanding of disability leads this segment to propose a decolonial politics of disability justice in Latin America, which has been precipitated by the scrutiny of the colonial legacies, neoliberal extractivism, and Eurocentric knowledge systems’ prevailing views of disability discourse. The writer resorts to decolonial theory, indigenous knowledge systems, and the intersectional disability justice approaches to illustrate how coloniality has laid down the parameters of capability, productivity, and independence, which generally classify indigenous, afro-descendant, rural, queer, and disabled bodies as marginal. The chapter primarily emphasizes the indigenous views of interconnectedness, mutuality, and group care, thus showing that these cosmologies not only counter Western individualism but also present to society alternatives of justice that are based on land, community, and spirituality. Moreover, the chapter mentions the linkages with the struggles of the indigenous peoples for land, the environmental justice campaigns, and the neurodiversity and autistic activism in Brazil. It insinuates that the disability justice movement in Latin America is closely connected with the fight against racial capitalism, ecological destruction, and the oppression of knowledge. Simultaneously, it holds the universal human rights instruments accountable for their failures if they are not associated with local cultural contexts, thus advocating an interpretation that recognizes the multiple ontologies of disability. The disability justice project is perceived as one that is community-led, cross-cutting, and transformative; redefined by the interaction of the Global South, grassroots movement building, and the production of knowledge free from colonial influences. This chapter's emphasis on Global South experiences leads to the reshaping of disability studies into the more equitable, context-aware, and liberating futures still to come.

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Toward a Decolonial Politics of Disability Justice in Latin America

  • Sheena Mariam Thomas,
  • Ramakrishnan Veerabathiran

摘要

A critical evaluation of the current understanding of disability leads this segment to propose a decolonial politics of disability justice in Latin America, which has been precipitated by the scrutiny of the colonial legacies, neoliberal extractivism, and Eurocentric knowledge systems’ prevailing views of disability discourse. The writer resorts to decolonial theory, indigenous knowledge systems, and the intersectional disability justice approaches to illustrate how coloniality has laid down the parameters of capability, productivity, and independence, which generally classify indigenous, afro-descendant, rural, queer, and disabled bodies as marginal. The chapter primarily emphasizes the indigenous views of interconnectedness, mutuality, and group care, thus showing that these cosmologies not only counter Western individualism but also present to society alternatives of justice that are based on land, community, and spirituality. Moreover, the chapter mentions the linkages with the struggles of the indigenous peoples for land, the environmental justice campaigns, and the neurodiversity and autistic activism in Brazil. It insinuates that the disability justice movement in Latin America is closely connected with the fight against racial capitalism, ecological destruction, and the oppression of knowledge. Simultaneously, it holds the universal human rights instruments accountable for their failures if they are not associated with local cultural contexts, thus advocating an interpretation that recognizes the multiple ontologies of disability. The disability justice project is perceived as one that is community-led, cross-cutting, and transformative; redefined by the interaction of the Global South, grassroots movement building, and the production of knowledge free from colonial influences. This chapter's emphasis on Global South experiences leads to the reshaping of disability studies into the more equitable, context-aware, and liberating futures still to come.