Incorporating disability within intersectional analysis: general challenges and French specificities
Résumé
While intersectional theory has gained significant attention, disability remains rarely addressed, particularly in France. This article first underscores two primary challenges in intersecting disability with social class, gender, or race: resolving definitional obstacles to designate “disability” as a hierarchical system, and evaluating the theoretical significance of treating this system alongside those traditionally studied. The prevalent focus on class-like mechanisms in French research hampers the acknowledgment of disability alongside other analytical categories. I then categorize the existing literature into four significant areas of research, inspired by McCall (Signs 30:1771–1800, 2005): inequalities concerning impairments and functional limitations (pre-categorical approach); social influences on diagnoses and disability recognition (anti-categorical approach); targeted situations of disabled groups (intra-categorical approach); and processes generating inequalities across multiple hierarchical systems (inter-categorical approach). Finally, I outline five avenues for future research.