ABSTRACT
Before developing a critique of the ethics of representation in narrative inquiry in the field of dis/ability studies, it would of course make sense to briefly outline, unpack and explain this trans-disciplinary field of inquiry not least because such a description will illustrate the particular saliency a consideration of research ethics has for those working in this field. Dis/ability studies is described in Dan’s 2014 book as an emerging field of critical scholarship that seeks to understand and contest the practices of disablism and ableism (Goodley, 2014). Disablism relates to the oppressive practices of contemporary society that threaten to exclude, eradicate and neutralize those individuals, bodies, minds and community practices that fail to fit the capitalist imperative (Goodley, 2014, p. xi). According to Carol Thomas (2007), the disabled feminist scholar, disablism not only places people with physical, sensory and cognitive impairments on the edges and peripheral boundaries of everyday life, disablism also threatens to get under the skin; undermining psychological and emotional well being. Disablism is, then, something specifically experienced by people who are considered to be disabled (Goodley, 2014, p. xi). Ableism , on the other hand, refers to a set of potentially stifling social, political and embodied practices that inflict us all (Goodley, 2014, p. xi). These are practices associated with a contemporary society that increasingly seeks to promote what Campbell (2009) terms the ‘species typical individual citizen’: a citizen that is ready and able to work and contribute; an atomistic phenomenon cut off from others, capable, malleable and compliant. Ableism breeds paranoia, confusion, fear and inadequacy. Ableism is an ideal that no one ever matches up to (Goodley, 2014, p. xi). As McRuer (2006) carefully puts it: compulsory ableism is to disablism what compulsory heterosexuality is to homophobia. Ableism provides just the right amount of temperature and nutrients for disablism to grow. Ableism has in mind, then, a vision of the ideal citizen: productive, competent, capable, independent and autonomous, ideally suited to the economic and cultural landscape of advanced neoliberal capitalism (McRuer, 2006). Think here, for example, of the ideal student or learner of the Western school: a highly performing and academically achieving individual who meets the performative requirements of testing. Now, while many students fail to reach these high standards, disabled students often find themselves on the edges of educational communities; not least because they are also subjected to disablist practices that fail to include a diverse body of learners and learning styles in an increasingly narrow ableist curriculum and educational culture. Dis/ ability studies also engages with the constitution of disability and ability (Goodley, 2014, p. xi).
