By Helen Lowery
When we talk about PDA, we often speak as though PDA creates disability for individuals in the same ways, and that PDAers all hold the same power and privilege within our societal structures. These discussions rarely consider the role of race, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status, or immigration status. Yet these factors significantly shape how individuals interact with the systems we rely on daily to participate in society or access essential services and supports. This oversight is especially harmful for PDA individuals who also belong to communities marginalized by our social, economic, educational, and healthcare systems. Because we do not talk about these issues regularly and widely, our language and framework for doing so is limited, and posts and panels about diversity, equity, and inclusion, while well intentioned, do not take off and become robust discussions that lead to systematic change.
It is my hope that by making space to talk about power, privilege, oppression, and intersectionality, our PDA community will be more equipped to grapple with the issues faced by PDA individuals who hold other marginalized identities.
Imagine for a moment that at the end of a full day, you need to stop into the grocery store with your PDA 11 year old child. The fluorescent lights are loud and buzzy, the store is crowded with afterwork shoppers, and the prepared food section has a strong odor that is wafting through the entire store. After about ten minutes in the store, your child becomes overwhelmed and it is clear they are headed for a meltdown.
Now imagine you are Black or Brown.
The situation just became one where you not only have to help your child manage their overwhelm and ensuing meltdown, but also need to hope you can get out of the store before a meltdown gets big, loud, or physical so that no one calls the police, because you know in your bones that this could be the day an officer views your child as a danger and a threat.
Understanding the experiences of PDAers who also hold other identities that are marginalized within our society requires us to first understand the concept of intersectionality. Intersectionality is a term coined by Kimberle Crenshaw to articulate that when we consider marginalized groups, we use the experiences of those privileged within the marginalized group, failing to consider the complexities of the oppression experienced by those who hold multiple marginalized identities. When we discuss PDA, we have to ask ourselves if the discussion assumes that PDA is the only marginalized identity held by the individual. It is likely that we are considering a PDAer who is a White, heterosexual, cis-gendered male, middle class, US born citizen, the most privileged within the marginalized group because when we speak about marginalized identities, there is a tendency to consider the default of the most privileged group within the marginalized group. When we speak from this framework, we erase the experiences of PDAers who hold multiple marginalized identities, failing to consider how the systems, and systems of oppression, with which we must interact to get supports and services, or to participate in society (like go to the grocery store), interact with those PDAers, creating multiple, compound points of vulnerability.
In short, we forget that for some PDAers who hold multiple marginalized identities, it is not just difficultly getting professional diagnosis and appropriate support; PDA poses a threat to physical safety, liberty, and/or life.
Despite this reality, our education and advocacy efforts on behalf of PDA individuals too often miss the opportunity for an intersectional discussion of impact of PDA for those who hold other identities that are marginalized within our social, education, and economic systems. We do not discuss that for PDAers, their disability is downright dangerous when considered through the lens of the other identities they hold, and we fail to understand their experiences and advocate on their behalf until it is too late.
We all have a responsibility for changing systems to consider the needs of PDAers who hold multiple marginalized identities. We have to talk about power, privilege, and oppression and consider an intersectional framework, in order to break down the barriers to listening to the PDA experiences of those who hold multiple marginalized identities.
Only then will we be able to build supports and resources that benefit all PDAers, not just a select few.
Helen Lowery (she/her) is a Black, Queer, 2e, late-diagnosed AuDHDer and homeschool parent to four neurodivergent kiddos. She loves dancing, research and learning new things, and has a passion for social justice and a knack for building community wherever she goes. Helen is a lawyer by training and has both personal and professional experience as an educational advocate, empowering parents to navigate the special education system, and is a consultant for PDA North America. She also has experience working with not-for-profit organizations consulting, volunteering, and serving as a board member for organizations ranging from small start-ups to established international organizations. Website: https://www.helenloweryconsulting.com/
References:
1 Power: access to privileges such as information/knowledge, connections, experience and expertise, resources and decision-making that enhance a person’s chances of getting what they need to live a comfortable, safe, productive and profitable life.
– Anti-Violence Project. Glossary. University of Victoria, https://www.antiviolenceproject.org/glossary/
2 Privilege: unearned power, benefits, advantages, access and/or opportunities that exist for members of the dominant group(s) in society. Can also refer to the relative privilege of one group compared to another. Privilege implies that wherever there is a system of oppression (such as capitalism, patriarchy, or white supremacy) there is an oppressed group and also a privileged group, who benefit from the oppressions that this system puts in place. Privilege and power are closely related: privilege often gives a person or group power over others.
Anti-Violence Project, Glossary, University of Victoria, https://www.antiviolenceproject.org/glossary/
3 Oppression: Institutionalized power that is historically formed and perpetuated over time that allows certain ‘groups’ of people to assume a dominant position over ‘other groups’ and this dominance is maintained and continued at an institutional level.This means oppression is built into institutions like government and education systems. It gives power and positions of dominance to some groups of people over other groups of people.
Anti-Violence Project, Glossary, University of Victoria, https://www.antiviolenceproject.org/glossary/
4 Crenshaw, K., Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics, University of Chicago Legal Forum, p. 140, 1989.
5 Crenshaw, K., Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics, University of Chicago Legal Forum, p. 140, 1989.
6 Systems of oppression are built around what are understood to be “norms” in our societies. A norm signifies what is “normal,” acceptable, and desirable. “The norm” is something that is valued and supported in a society. It is also given a position of dominance, privilege and power over what is defined as non-dominant, abnormal and therefore invaluable or marginal. Norms are also considered to be stable or unchanging over time.
Anti-Violence Project, Glossary, University of Victoria, https://www.antiviolenceproject.org/glossary/
