Intersectionality examines the experiences of people who are experiencing discrimination on the basis of two or more marginalized identities at the same time, and how this differs from experiencing discrimnination on the basis of these identities individually.  Because of this depending on context, we all have areas where we experience privilege, as well as areas of oppression

For example, the stereotypes or preconceived notions held about black women are not merely a combination of those held about black people and those held about women, but a unique intersection of racism and sexism that black women experience differently from either black men or white women.

Intersectionality

When discussing and combatting systems of oppression we should uplift and center those who are most impacted by the systems we are fighting against to keep ourselves grounded in real-world problems and find creative strategies for resistance. 

Leadership of Those Most Impacted 

Disability justice can only grow into its potential as a movement by aligning itself with other movements working for justice and liberation. This means challenging white disability communities around  other forms of oppression and challenging other movements to confront ableism.

 Cross-Movement Organizing

 Disabled people are whole people with life experiences and internal experiences composed of our own thoughts, sensations, emotions, and perceptions

Recognizing Wholeness

"We learn to pace ourselves, individually and collectively, to be sustained long-term. We value the teachings of our bodies and experiences, and use them as a critical guide and reference point to help us move away from urgency and into a deep, slow, transformative, unstoppable wave of justice and liberation."

Sustainability in Disability Justice 

One cannot holistically advocate for Disability Justice or Disability Liberation without advocating in a way that fully acknowledges and works on behalf of all of those with disabilities - included those with disabling conditions that are not traditionally thoughts of as disabilities (e.g. people with environmental injuries and chemical sensitivities), and those who do not identify with disability or consider themselves as disabled. 

Commitment to Cross-Disability Solidariity

The belief that the liberation of all living systems and the land as integral to the liberation of our own communities. We work to meet each other’s needs as we build toward liberation, without always reaching for state solutions which inevitably extend state
control further into our lives.

Interdependence 

Disabled people all create and explore ways of doing things beyond able-bodied and neurotypical norms. We most articulate our own access needs and dedicate ourselves to meeting those of others, as we share responsibility for our access needs.

Collective Access

We must work for the liberation of all both for its inherent good but also to ensure our own liberation.

Collective Liberation 

From a disability justice perspective, capitalism is critiqued for its emphasis on wealth accumulation and competition, which often marginalizes disabled individuals. This critique argues that capitalist systems define labor and productivity according to able-bodied, neurotypical standards, rendering the contributions of many disabled people invisible or devalued. It posits that an individual's worth should not be contingent on their capacity for production within a competitive framework.

Disability Justice Critique of Capitalism

1. Intersectionality
2. Leadership of Those Most Impacted
3. Anti-Capitalist Politics
4. Cross-Movement Organizing
5. Recognizing Wholeness
6. Sustainability
7. Commitment to Cross-Disability Solidarity
8. Interdependence
9. Collective Access
10.Collective Liberation

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Disability Justice is a framework that was developed in the mid-2000s by disabled people of color, disabled queer people, and disabled queer people of color, including Patty Berne, Leroy Moore, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Mia Mingus and groups including Sins Invalid, the Disability Justice Collective, and Azola Story.

Disability Justice 

Schalk, Sami. Black Disability Politics, New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478027003

Black Disability Politics

Berne, Patty. " Disability Justice - a Working Draft." Sins Invalid: An Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility (blog), June 9, 2015. https://www.sinsinvalid.org/blog/disability-justice-a-working-draft-by-patty-berne.

10 Principles of Disability Justice

Price notes that Disability Justice is often cited as a key framework in Disability Studies and Critical Disability Studies often without much thought by the programs within academia that are claiming to do Disability Justice work. Price holds that while Critical Disability Studies, Disability Studies and Disability Justice can overlap, that the Disability Justice movement is and has always been separate from academia. Price doesn't mean by this that there are no Disability Justice activists that are affiliated with universities or that DS and CDS programs cannot uphold the values of Disability Justice, but that while DS programs are primarily situated within academe and meant to benefit people within academia, Disability Justice is primarily situated within communities that are not sponsored by or considered within academia. 

Disability Justice and (Critical) Disability Studies

There has been a surge in disability activism since 2017 through ground-level organizing, cyber protests and activism, popular media coverage (Time Magazine, MSNBC, Huffington Post), and expanding scholarly literature positioning disability rights as civil rights. An example of online efforts is the Disability Visibility Project, which pushes viral hashtags (#cripthevote, #iamapreexistingcondition, #thisiswhatdisabilitylookslike), demands for equal access to rights and services, and reclaims/reasserts identity. 

Digital Activism

Engagement with disability as a social and political category and embodiment rather than as a solely personal or medical experience.

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