Ableism, Disablism, Enablism

Dear Colleagues, 

This Special Issue aims to explore the many facets of ableism and ability-based disablism and enablism.  

Ability studies (short for ability expectation and ableism studies) (Wolbring, 2008a, 2008b, 2020; Wolbring et al., 2020), studies in ableism (Campbell, 2008, 2009; Campbell, 2012; Campbell, 2019) and “critical studies of ableism” (Goodley, 2016; Goodley et al., 2019) are three strands of studies that focus specifically on ableism, disablism, and enablism (see also eco-ability; Bentley et al., 2017; Nocella II, 2017; Nocella II et al., 2012). Disabled activists and academics coined the term ableism in the United States and Britain during the 1960s and 1970s to question irrelevant normative body/mind ability expectations,  the “ability privileges (i.e. ability to work, to gain education, to be part of society, to have a positive identity, to be seen as a citizen)” Wolbring (2014, p. 119) that come with them and the discrimination, the disablism (Miller et al., 2004), experienced by disabled people labelled as “ability deficient”.  Many have over time engaged with the cultural reality of ability-based expectations, judgments, norms, and conflicts in the relationship between “non-disabled people” and “disabled people” but also human–human relationships in general and humans–post-/transhuman, humans–cyborg human, human–nonsentient machine, human–animal, and human–nature relationships and the disabling and enabling use of ability expectations and ableism.  

To leave you with a quote from the 2003 computer game Deus Ex: Invisible War

Conversation between Alex D and Paul Denton

Paul Denton: If you want to even out the social order, you have to change the nature of power itself. Right? And what creates power? Wealth, physical strength, legislation — maybe — but none of those is the root principle of power.

Alex D: I’m listening.

Paul Denton: Ability is the ideal that drives the modern state. It's a synonym for one's worth, one's social reach, one's "election," in the Biblical sense, and it's the ideal that needs to be changed if people are to begin living as equals.

Alex D: And you think you can equalise humanity with biomodification?

Paul Denton: The commodification of ability — tuition, of course, but, increasingly, genetic treatments, cybernetic protocols, now biomods — has had the side effect of creating a self-perpetuating aristocracy in all advanced societies. When ability becomes a public resource, what will distinguish people will be what they do with it. Intention. Dedication. Integrity. The qualities we would choose as the bedrock of the social order. (Deus Ex: Invisible War)(Wikiquote, n.d.)

Some potential topics of investigation through the lens of ability-related concepts and ability-based judgments (ability expectations, ableism) and actions (disablism, enablism) could be:

• Ability-based conflict/conflict studies
• Ability-based judgment impacting different groups
• Activism
• Advancements in science and technology
• Anticipatory governance of science and technology
• Aging well
• Arts
• Artificial Intelligence/machine learning
• Being a citizen
• Brain–computer interfaces
• Community being the scholar
• Colonialism/decolonizing
• COVID-19 situation during COVID-19/aftermath of COVID-19
• Critical disability studies
• Disabled people/people with disabilities
• Eco Crip theory
• Eco-ability
• Eco-ableism
• Education
• Employment
• Environmental issues/climate change/energy/water/food
• Equity, diversity, and inclusion
• Impact of ability judgments and their use (disablism, enablism) on isms and impact of -isms on ability judgment and their use
• Intersectionality
• Human enhancement
• Motivated reasoning
• Relationship between groups
• Robotics
• Peace studies
• Policies
• Responsible research and innovation
• Risk narratives
• Sport
• STEM
• Sustainability
• The future
• Tools that could make ability-based realities and sentiments visible, such as the BIAS FREE Framework (building an integrative analytical system for recognizing and eliminating inequities)(Burke & Eichler, 2006; Eichler & Burke, 2006)
• Urban design
• Violence and abuse

The CFP accepts three types of submissions: empirical data (category article), reviews (category reviews), and theoretical engagement (category conceptual paper).

The deadline is 1 April 2022. However, CFP submissions will be peer reviewed and, if accepted, published as soon as they are submitted. As such, submissions before the deadline are encouraged.

The APC (Article Processing Charge) is waived for all accepted and to be published submissions.

Bentley, J. K., Conrad, S., Hurley, S., Lisitza, A., Lupinacci, J., Lupinacci, M. W., Parson, S., Pellow, D., Roberts-Cady, S., & Wolbring, G. (2017). The Intersectionality of Critical Animal, Disability, and Environmental Studies: Toward Eco-ability, Justice, and Liberation. Lexington Books. 

Burke, M. A., & Eichler, M. (2006). Building an Integrative Analytical System For Recognising and Eliminating inEquities. (BIAS FREE framework). ETH Zuerich. https://ethz.ch/content/specialinterest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/en/services/digital-library/publications/publication.html/128225.

Campbell, F. K. (2008). Refusing able (ness): a preliminary conversation about ableism. M/C Journal, 11(3). 

Campbell, F. K. (2009). Contours of Ableism The Production of Disability and Abledness. Palgrave Macmillan. 

Campbell, F. K. (2012). Stalking ableism: Using disability to expose ‘abled’narcissism. In Disability and social theory (pp. 212–230). Springer. 

Campbell, F. K. (2019). Precision ableism: a studies in ableism approach to developing histories of disability and abledment. Rethinking History, 23(2), 138–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642529.2019.1607475.

Eichler, M., & Burke, M. A. (2006). The BIAS FREE Framework. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 97(1), 63–68. 

Goodley, D. (2016). Disability studies: An interdisciplinary introduction. Sage. 

Goodley, D., Lawthom, R., Liddiard, K., & Runswick-Cole, K. (2019). Provocations for critical disability studies. Disability and Society, 34(6), 972–997. 

Miller, P., Parker, S., & Gillinson, S. (2004). Disablism How to tackle the last prejudice. http://www.demos.co.uk/files/disablism.pdf.

Nocella II, A. J. (2017). Defining Eco-ability. In S. J. Ray & J. Sibara (Eds.), Disability Studies and the Environmental Humanities (pp. 141–168). University of Nebraska Press. 

Nocella II, A. J., Bentley, J. K. C., Duncan, J. M., & Others. (2012). The Rise of the Eco-Ability Movement (A. J. Nocella II, J. K. C. Bentley, & J. M. Duncan, Eds.). Peter Lang. 

Wikiquote. (n.d., August 2, 2015). Deus Ex: Invisible War. Retrieved January 23 from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Deus_Ex:_Invisible_War.

Wolbring, G. (2008a). The Politics of Ableism. Development, 51(2), 252–258. 

Wolbring, G. (2008b, 2008). Why NBIC?  Why Human Performance Enhancement? Innovation; The European Journal of Social Science Research, 21(1), 25–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610802002189

Wolbring, G. (2014). Ability Privilege: A needed addition to privilege studies. Journal for Critical Animal Studies, 12(2), 118–141. 

Wolbring, G. (2020). Ability expectation and Ableism glossary. Wordpress. https://wolbring.wordpress.com/ability-expectationableism-glossary/.

Wolbring, G., Deloria, R., Lillywhite, A., & Villamil, V. (2020). Ability Expectation and Ableism Peace. Peace Review, 31(4), 449–458. https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2019.1800929.

Prof. Dr. Gregor Wolbring
Dr. Anica Zeyen
Prof. Dr. Oana Branzei
Guest Editors

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