Blog Task One _ IP Unit

Blog Post: Disability and Intersectionality – Understanding Lived Experience Beyond Labels

Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality offers a crucial framework for understanding how multiple aspects of a person’s identity—such as race, gender, class, and disability—intersect to shape their lived experiences. These identities do not exist in isolation but combine to create distinct and often complex experiences of privilege and oppression. This theory is especially important in understanding disability, which is too often viewed through a single-issue lens, separated from the social, cultural, and economic factors that impact disabled individuals.

In Scope’s “We Are Disabled” video series, four young people speak openly about their experiences, each offering a nuanced portrait of how disability interacts with other identity markers.

Josie, a young white woman with cerebral palsy, speaks about the frustration of being treated as “different” when, to her, disability is simply a part of life. She challenges the trope of the “inspirational disabled person,” highlighting how society often uses disabled people’s lives as motivation for non-disabled audiences. Josie’s experience illustrates how gender and disability intersect—she is made hypervisible through the lens of ableism, while simultaneously desexualised and underestimated because she is both a woman and disabled.

Eliza brings another layer to this conversation. As an autistic, queer, non-binary person, they describe how being disabled is just one part of their multifaceted identity. They recount the struggle of navigating systems that often don’t recognise non-binary identities or understand neurodiversity. Their experience underscores the reality of compounded marginalisation—ableism, queerphobia, and cisnormativity all intersect to create specific barriers that would not be captured by analysing any one identity in isolation.

Tara, a South Asian woman with multiple disabilities, speaks about the added pressure of cultural expectations and silence around disability in her community. Her experience reveals how race, ethnicity, and disability intertwine in deeply personal ways. She discusses how stigma around disability can discourage people from seeking help, and how community silence can create internalised shame. Her intersectional identity illustrates how cultural background can both enrich and complicate the process of self-acceptance.

Reuben, a Black British man with cerebral palsy, reflects on the expectation that his success be framed as him “overcoming” disability. This narrative, while well-meaning, reduces his identity to struggle and ignores his full personhood. Reuben also touches on the racialised dynamics of being a disabled man of colour—his experiences are filtered through both ableist and racist assumptions, which shape how he’s treated in everyday and institutional settings.

Further perspectives from the videos “Disabled and Proud” and “My Disability Made Me a Better Person” highlight important themes of self-acceptance, resistance to medicalised narratives, and the strength gained through lived experience. These stories challenge the deficit model of disability, instead centring disabled individuals as experts in their own lives.

Disability in the UAL Teaching Context

At UAL, these insights are highly relevant. Disability doesn’t exist in a vacuum—it intersects with race, gender, and class in ways that shape how students access education and support. According to UAL’s own Equality, Diversity and Inclusion data, disabled students—especially those from global majority backgrounds—have lower continuation and attainment rates.

From my own experience, many students are reluctant to disclose disabilities, particularly neurodivergent students or those from cultural backgrounds where disability is stigmatised. International students may be unfamiliar with the support systems available, or uncomfortable accessing them. This can lead to isolation and underperformance—not because of lack of ability, but due to systemic gaps in understanding and support.

In response, I’ve adapted my teaching practice to include multiple formats of participation, clearer communication styles, and more flexible deadlines when appropriate. Normalising conversations around access needs from the outset of a unit has also helped build trust with students who might otherwise remain silent about the barriers they face.

Intersectionality teaches us that there is no single disabled experience. Disability is shaped and reshaped by other identity factors, and we must move beyond tokenistic approaches to inclusion. Whether in media, education, or policy, recognising the complexity of disabled lives is the first step toward creating spaces where everyone can thrive—on their own terms.