Theory, impairment and impersonal singularities
Deleuze, Guattari and Agamben
pp. 112-126
in: Dan Goodley, Bill Hughes, Lennard Davis (eds), Disability and social theory, Berlin, Springer, 2012Abstract
Since the Enlightenment with the displacing of God with "man' [sic] as the primary architect of society, differing marginalised people have struggled to be included in this realm of citizenship with rights and responsibilities. Since the 1960s with the advent of identity politics, marginalised groups stake out their claim of legitimacy under the rubric of citizenship. Disability activism and by extension disability studies has followed feminism, queer movements, and antiracism in adopting this method of social change. Yet, this model of self-actualised individuals within a group membership with its reliance upon liberalism to some degree disavows impairments that coexist with the disabled identity. I draw on the theoretical works of Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari and Giorgio Agamben to illuminate how impersonal singularities can affirm impairments, and offer another way to express life.
