Disrupting ableism in social work pedagogy with Maurice Merleau-Ponty and critical disability theory

Abstract

Merleau-Ponty dedicated his life’s work to thinking about human existence. His philosophy of being-in-the-world challenged dominant Cartesian thinking that preferences the mind and objectifies the body. This chapter explores Merleau-Ponty’s thinking, not only how the body is lived, agentic and knowing, but also how our being is embodied and cannot be understood without the world. That is, our being occurs in the world, and that this world has social, historical and political context. Merleau-Ponty’s theorising about embodiment provokes deeper ways of understanding the body-in-the-world. His theorising is applied to poignantly illustrate that non-normative bodies’ agency and knowing are often oppressed – not due to the body itself – but due to being in a world underpinned by ableism. This is revealed through discussing cultural and institutional forms of prejudice toward disabled people that continue to be perpetuated in society and social work through dominant normative discourse and images. The chapter argues that by adopting Merleau-Ponty’s thinking of bodies as lived, agentic and knowing within a critical disability studies approach, we can begin to disrupt and shift unchecked ableism that exists in everyday social work praxis. This is an essential approach in order to achieve anti-oppressive practice.