When you hear the term “intersectionality” what comes to mind? Is it a term you’re generally familiar with or is it a complete nuance? More so, why is it important to understand “intersectionality”and what is its purpose?
Before attending UCLA, I had never heard of the term “intersectionality” or the woman who coined the term, Kimberle Crenshaw. The first time the term was used in a lecture setting, my mind immediately referenced driving; two or multiple identities at an intersection. Although the term was new to me, the concept itself wasn’t a complete nuance due to my understanding of W.E.B Du Bois’ “double consciousness”, or the internal conflict felt by those from a marginalized group with combating multiple identities in an oppressive society. W.E.B Du Bois describes this internal battle as living a double life, and in the context of Black people specifically, it is the constant conflict between one’s African and American identity, as product of slavery within the United States. Du Bois coined “double consciousness” in his infamous novel, The Souls of Black Folks, in 1903, and nearly eighty six years later (1989), Kimberle Crenshaw, current professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Columbia University, coined “intersectionality”. Throughout her academic and professional career, Crenshaw has continued to study race, racism, and civil rights. According to the article by Jane Coaston, “The Intersectionality Wars”, most of Crenshaw’s research delves deeply into the concept of Critical Race Theory, which argues the falsehood of the belief “that once the irrational distortions of bias [are] removed, the underlying legal and socioeconomic order [can] revert to a neutral, benign state of impersonally apportioned justice” (Coaston, The origins of “intersectionality”). Through a Critical Race Theory lens, intersectionality is more than just the “piling on” of one’s identities, it is “how individuals located [dangerously] at the intersections of race, class, gender, and disability are constituted as non-citizens and (no)bodies by the very social institutions (legal, educational, and rehabilitation) that are designed to protect, nurture, and empower them” (Nirmala Erevelles, Andrea Minear, “Unspeakable Offenses..”). Unlike those who choose to believe that through the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1965 a post-racial America immediately submerged, Crenshaw is on the opposing end, arguing that the consequences of racism are clearly reflected within today’s discriminatory legal system and overall society.
In her paper “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex”, Crenshaw highlights three examples of how intersectionality plays a crucial role in the discrimination of those with 2 identities in the court room, more specifically, Black women. One example is the case of DeGraffenreid v. General Motors. In the 1976 case, five Black women sued General Motors for a seniority policy that they argued targeted Black women exclusively. Before 1964, the company did not hire Black women and as a result of an early recession in the 1970s, all of the Black women who had been hired, were immediately laid off. These Black women brought the issue to court not only as gender discrimination, but also race discrimination. However, the court ruled that combining both the issue of race and sex discrimination was not plausible (Coaston, The origins of “intersectionality”). In the case of DeGraffenreid v. General Motors, the court ruled that if they allowed Black women to be considered as a separate entity or class within the law then every minority would demand to be heard as well, which would open, as Judge Harris Wangelin explained, “Pandora’s box”. While Crenshaw uses the examplitory experiences of Black women to convey the cracks within the law system that ultimately allow for discrimination continue to exist within the legal system, there are various experiences of those with intersectional identities who continue to be overlooked; people of color with disabilities.
Intersectionality, is not a single issue problem, but multifaceted and overtime, has widened the lines of disparity between those with intersecting identities, such as race and disability (alongside citizenship, sex, gender, class etc.). In 1990, when the Americans of Disabilities Act (ADA) passed it was ultimately a win for everyone in the disability community. The ADA set in place policies that condemned the discrimination against those with disabilities in various spaces, such as the workplace, classrooms, and parks, and required every venue to have specific accommodations to promote accessibility. As a result, people with disabilities were entering spaces they were never able to access before- literally- including opportunities for employment, education and housing. Nevertheless, one aspect of disabled identity that the ADA did not tackle was the issue of intersectionality. While the ADA did much good, its passing was just the “tip of the iceberg” for those facing greater challenges and hurdles as a person of color with a disability. These disparities most notably showcase themselves within the education system, criminal justice system, and overall access to resources. According to the article, “#DisabilitySoWhite: Reflections on Race and Disability on ADA Day”, in a 2019 AP News Article research from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights showed that disabled people of color with disabilities were disproportionately disciplined within the classroom or removed completely from schools, and that the intersectional discrimination has “plagued education across the United States for decades”...Students with disabilities are about twice as likely to be suspended as those without disabilities, and Black, Latino and Native American students receive harsher and longer punishments than their White peers for similar offenses” (ChrisTiana ObeySumner, “#DisabilitySoWhite...”). This intersectional discrimination not only affects youth of color with disabilities, but also their adulthood, as the mixture of racism and ableism that create these experiences, often propels those within the School-to-Prison pipeline, a system reliant on bodies of color to fill cells within private prisons, thus discouraging and using adolescent behavior against youth to display a record of “disobedience” that often seal one’s fate in the system. In 2015, Black and Latinx people made up 32% of America’s population and of that 32%, 56% were incarcerated (NAACP, Criminal Fact Sheet). Furthermore, ObeySumner goes on to highlight that “people in state and federal prisons are nearly three times as likely to report having a disability, and four times as likely to have a cognitive disability [varying from autism to dementia]...Those in jails are four times as likely to be disabled, and six times as likely to have a cognitive disability. One in five prison inmates have a serious mental illness” (ObeySumner, “#DisabilitySoWhite...”). Lastly, for those of color with disabilities who enter criminal justice needing special resources and accommodations from the very beginning, are often ill-accommodated for. For example, during a conversation I had with my American Sign Language professor, who is deaf, about the experience of deaf individuals within the criminal justice system, he explained “when [a] Deaf person goes to prison it is a double nightmare for them since [there are] language barriers inside the cell. Mostly Deaf prisoners' basic rights are being taken away, for instance, no sign language interpreter, no closed captions, no accessibility for those inmates”. Overall, every aspect of legal discrimination that the ADA aims to denounce continues to affect and punish people of color with disabilities severely.
In the article “Undoing Racism & Anti-Blackness in Disability Justice” by Lydia X.Z. Brown, she emphasizes how “Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Brown people have always been the targets of state violence and the violence of structural racism... It's long past time that our movements, our organizations, our activists in the disability community start addressing our replication of white-centric structures and start challenging racism” (Brown, “Undoing Racism & Anti-Blackness in Disability Justice”).
Two great examples of how people with disabilities are shedding light on the importance of intersectionality and the inclusion of people of color within disabled spaces and discussions is the creator of “Disability Justice”, Patty Berne, and self-advocate, Vilissa Thompson. In 2005, Patty Berne, along with other self-identified “Black, brown, queer, and transgender” radical crips, such as Mia Mingus, Stacey Milbern, Leroy Moore, and others, joined forces to establish the “Disability Justice Committee”. The “Disability Justice Committee” aims to showcase the different, and often overlooked, experiences within the disability community and advocate on behalf of themselves and others. Determined to not be confined to nor defined by white, male, heterosexual experiences, this committee strives to center the focus of disability on "disabled people of color, immigrants with disabilities, queers with disabilities, trans and gender non-conforming people with disabilities, people with disabilities who are houseless, people with disabilities who are incarcerated, people with disabilities who have had their ancestral lands stolen, amongst others”. In addition, Vilissa Thompson, advocate for self-advocacy and empowerment for people with disabilities through her platform and website “Ramp Your Voice with Vilissa” created the hashtag “#DisabilitySo White” to highlight the ways in which people of color and indigenous people are marginalized within the disability community and greater scope of the media. Over the years, either in the form of academic literature, social media influence, and/or organized protesting, there have been numerous attempts made by people of color, both able-bodied and disabled, to explain and make sense of their experiences as a people with intersectional identities in an oppressive and unaccommodating society, in the context of the United States. Although “intersectionality” is a fairly new term, the overall concept is one that has been “recycled” for many years. While I’m certain there are many other influential figures who have (and will continue to) reflect on their experiences as being a person of color and disabled, I wanted to quickly shed light on the ways both disabled and able-bodied individuals have taken action to have their voices heard and bodies represented and accommodated for properly.