Publication Date

2012

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department

School for Social Work

Keywords

Queer theory, Gender identity disorders, People with disabilities-Medical care, Gays-Medical care, Homophobia, Discrimination against people with disabilities, Gays-Mental health, Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, Queer, Disability, Disability theory, LGBTQ, DSM, GID, Bias, Diagnosis, Discrimination, Social justice, Transgender, Crip, Oppression, Medicalization, Cognitive authority, Medical industrial complex

Abstract

The medical industrial complex has historically contributed to the oppression and pathology of queer and disabled people in a myriad of ways; through forced medication and institutionalization, as well as denial of self-determination and identity. Queer theory and disability theory both challenge modes of normalcy directly related to both queer and disabled identities by using a lens that encompasses sexuality, gender, embodiment, health and impairment. This paper will use queer theory and disability theory to analyze the ways in which queer and disabled identities are connected and co-constructed, as well as, the ways in which these intersections may expand our thinking in social work. The current diagnosis and controversy around Gender Identity Disorder as a diagnosis in the DSM will be examined through the lenses of queer theory and disability theory, to aid in the continued movement to depathologize queer and disabled identities. It is the perspective of this paper that the liberation of queer people is directly linked to the liberation of disabled people and that trans/queer justice is disability justice.

Language

English

Comments

ii, 161 p. Thesis (M.S.W.)-Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2011. Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-161)

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