Intersectional identity chronotopes: expanding the disability experience

Abstract

Intersectional approaches inquire how identities that represent oppression configure instances of discrimination. Analyzing identities uncovers how these are formed, embraced, changed, and abandoned through social interactions that are rooted in context, time, and place. Based on Black feminist, poststructuralist, and literary critique theories, we articulate intersectionality, identity, and chronotope to expand explanations about disability. In this qualitative case study, we present our analysis around Margarita, a Black, low Socio-Economic Status (SES), woman living with non-fluent aphasia in Cali, Colombia. We analyze her interactions in a regular day as she queues up for the cashier, attends therapy, and asks for information to resume college. We discuss how Margarita’s intersecting identities shape her self as a Black, low SES, trying-to-build-also-on-a-disability-identity-now woman, and how that does not match social sketches of her persona. This divergence has social and structural consequences that contribute to the configuration of the disability experience. Points of interest People with communicative disabilities interact in ways that may be different to the accepted social forms, and that difference creates tension for social participation. This article looks in detail at the everyday discrimination faced by Margarita, a Black, low socio-economic status, woman with a communicative disability. This research found that understanding the class, gender, and racial affiliations of people with disabilities; helps to explain how disability and discrimination are experienced. We suggest that therapy programs for people with communicative disabilities must pay attention to status and affiliations to develop more adequate and effective interventions. This research also recommends training students to design therapeutic plans based on the multiple identities of peoples with disabilities, such as class, gender, and race.