Disability, trauma, and the place of affect in identity

Examining performativity in visual impairment rehabilitation

Bibliographic Data

ID12259155
AuthorsBrian Watermeyer (0000-0001-7671-4323, Stellenbosch University, corresponding author), Michelle Botha (0000-0001-8436-1230, Stellenbosch University)
Year2023
Volume35
Issue2
Pages138-154
Publication date2023-09-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminism & Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-3535 • E-ISSN: 1461-7161
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09593535231200728
OpenAlexW4387125197
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited39

This paper examines rehabilitation services for visually impaired individuals as, in part, an amplified instantiation of disciplinary social forces maintaining heteronormative, ableist, and neoliberal norms. We problematise traditional rehabilitation's predominantly material focus, which elides experiences that are internal, emotional, relational, and reflective of issues of identity and social belonging, while creating links between gendered and ableist performativity. To do this, we draw on two qualitative data sources: firstly, interview data from a study of rehabilitation service organisations in South Africa, and secondly, a vignette provided by the second author, which describes a graduation ceremony (a performative ritual at a rehabilitation organisation). By means of a critical feminist disability studies lens, we consider the transmission of meanings and performative imperatives in these services, which tend to disallow the expression and processing of socially engendered trauma, thereby limiting the ability of visually impaired individuals to explore secure and authentic self-identities. Through the prism of visual impairment rehabilitation, commonalities between forces of dehumanisation resonant in the lives of both women and people with disabilities are brought to light, with implications for secure identities based on diversity, as well as for the creation of caring societies that embrace the reality of interdependence

Aesthetics · Identity (music · Performative utterance · Performativity · Sociology · Vignette · Disability Rights and Representation · Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies · Gender Studies · Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport · Psychology · Social Psychology

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