Intersection of Gender and Disability within a Settler-Colonial Framework: Palestinian Disabled Women and the Struggle for Disability Justice
Sociologies of Palestine Session 2: A BSA Members-Only Event
29 November 2024 (12.00-13.00 GMT)
Online
About the Event
Despite the global rise of disability justice movements, the struggles of disabled women in Palestine remain largely underrepresented in both scholarly and activist discourses. While significant conversations about women's agency in the Palestinian liberation struggle have emerged, disabled women have often been marginalized within these critical narratives. The intersection of disability has frequently been overlooked in anti-colonial feminist movements, leaving Palestinian disabled women without adequate representation.
Palestinian disabled women endure a unique convergence of oppression: they face discrimination not only as women and disabled persons but also as subjects of an ongoing settler-colonial regime. This regime, perpetuated by Israeli state violence, systematically disables Palestinian bodies and minds through its settler-colonial practices.
For Palestinian disabled women, these layers of marginalization reinforce both patriarchal and ableist structures, while intersecting with the settler-colonial framework. Their experiences are uniquely shaped by internal social hierarchies and external colonial forces that impose physical, legal, and economic barriers. Thus, their pursuit of disability justice is inextricably linked to the broader Palestinian struggle for liberation.
This presentation will explore how the application of global disability frameworks to the realities faced by Palestinian disabled women risks producing epistemic injustice. It calls for a reframing of disability justice that encompasses the geopolitical, racial, and gendered dimensions of the Palestinian experience. The ongoing genocide in Gaza further underscores the urgency of this discussion on disability within the context of settler-colonialism.
Our Speaker
Amanie Issa is a Palestinian PhD researcher and Hardiman Scholar at the Irish Centre for Human Rights and the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, University of Galway. She holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Galway and a BA in International Law and Human Rights from Al-Quds Bard College, East Jerusalem. Her research focuses on the intersections of law, gender, disability, and settler-colonialism, specifically examining the experiences of Palestinian disabled women facing gender-based violence. Amanie’s work spans areas including the socio-economic inclusion of women with disabilities across 190 economies, human trafficking and migrant rights, period poverty, and access to health and environmental rights.
Registration
This members-only event is free to attend but registration is required.