The right to be Freepeople

Relational voluntary-assisted-advocacy as a psychological and ethical resource for decolonizing intellectual disability

Bibliographic Data

ID13058773
AuthorsCharlotte Capri (0000-0002-6519-2475, University of Cape Town, corresponding author), L Swartz (0000-0003-1741-5897, Stellenbosch University)
Year2018
Volume6
Issue2
Pages556-574
Publication date2018-12-21
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social and Political Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2195-3325 • E-ISSN: 2195-3325
PublisherPsychOpen (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.5964/jspp.v6i2.946
OpenAlexW2906464925
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited47

Participating in social activism implies responsibility for its exchange and creation. We focus on Intellectual Disability (ID) as an advocacy site for individuals who are dependent on assistance with activities of daily life, and attend to the process of taking care during social justice projects. Our paper responds to current South African social justice controversies perpetrated against people who may be unable to independently mobilize against increasingly othering – even deadly – socio-political conditions. Underpinned by relational Ethics of Care, voluntary-assisted-advocacy can be a psychologically relational, intersubjective, and societal project that strives for ID citizenship-making and social justice. This paper draws on numerous interviews and a number of ethnographic observations in exploration of ID care. Empirical material was subjected to thematic content analysis, and participant quotes bring our argument to life. Relationships among people with Intellectual Disability (PWID) and non-ID assistant-advocates are asymmetrical. We can either uphold dominant non-ID voices, or transform socio-political ruling relations that maintain dependence on conditions of power and inequality. Our contributions to the advocacy we co-create today will shape the activism we will depend on in the future. We consider relational voluntary-assisted-advocacy as a psychological and ethical resource for sustainable, mutually satisfying social change

Argument (complex analysis · Citizenship · Economic Justice · Intellectual disability · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Public relations · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Thematic analysis · Disability Rights and Representation · Family and Disability Support Research · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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