The perm feigns engagement with disability studies and results in epistemic exploitation
Wieseler and Yancy 22 [Dr Christine Wieseler has held the position Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona since fall 2020. She earned her Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of South Florida in 2016. My areas of specialization are biomedical ethics, feminist philosophy, and philosophy of disability.; George Yancy is the Samuel Candler Dobbs professor of philosophy at Emory University and a Montgomery fellow at Dartmouth College. He is also the University of Pennsylvania’s inaugural fellow in the Provost’s Distinguished Faculty Fellowship Program (2019-2020 academic year).; 10-11-22; TRUTHOUT; “The “Problem” Isn’t Disabled Bodies — It’s the Violent Structure of Our Society”; https://truthout.org/articles/the-problem-isnt-disabled-bodies-its-the-violent-structure-of-our-society/; Accessed 6-28-23]//LASA-mackerel
As I discuss in “Epistemic Oppression and Ableism in Bioethics,” how folks go about trying to learn about disabled people’s experiences matters, because the type of approach determines whether one is promoting epistemic justice or undermining it. Drawing on the work of Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde and Iris Marion Young, feminist philosopher Nora Berenstain uses the term “epistemic exploitation” to refer to the phenomenon of privileged people pressuring members of marginalized groups to educate them, especially regarding their experiences of oppression. As Berenstain puts it, “The dominantly situated feign engagement with the marginalized but refuse to listen to them.” This form of epistemic labor is problematic, in part, due to the asymmetry between the social positioning of knowers but also because it (1) is an unfair demand on marginalized people; (2) is unlikely to be recognized; and (3) stands little chance of receiving proper epistemic uptake. I would suggest that it is better for those who want to gain a better understanding of disabled people’s experiences to engage with the work of folks who have chosen to take on this type of labor rather than asking disabled people they happen to encounter. This might sound obvious, but, in my experience, it isn’t.