Sobreviviendo Sin Sacrificando (Surviving without Sacrificing)– An intersectional DisCrit Testimonio from a tired mother-scholar of color

ABSTRACT

This paper is my testimonio of being a Latina mother-scholar trying to complete a doctorate while managing a chronic condition. I draw on intersectionality and DisCrit to share how my social identities influence my experiences with marginalization and oppression within a neoliberal university context. I highlight the ways in which my impairment was invisibilized and minimized as the normal fatigue associated with motherhood. I note the role Latino communities play in the marginalization of disabled Latinas via disability avoidance and the gendered socialization process that makes Latinas feel obligated to sacrifice for their families and others. This socially constructed narrative of sacrificio, when combined with ableism and the neoliberal university’s focus on productivity, makes it difficult to reveal and embrace an intersectional disability identity. I encourage scholars to consider the implications of this narrative, discussing how intersectionality and DisCrit can help them to (re)imagine knowledge production in the academy.

KEYWORDS:

• Race
• disability
• intersectionality
• DisCrit
• higher education
• neoliberalism

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Subini Annamma, David Connor, and Beth Ferri for inviting me to contribute to this special issue on DisCrit. I also would like to thank my mentors for their continued support and inspiration.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. I use ‘Latinx’ throughout the paper as a gender-neutral term that moves beyond normalized gender binaries. It is a linguistic attempt to recognize and embrace the intersectional identities within our community, particularly those who are trans, queer, gender fluid, and gender non-conforming. I want to honor the collective wounds of my people (Pelaez Lopez 2018). I occasionally use ‘Latina’ when referencing a stereotype or studies that use that term.

2. To honor the DisCrit framework by Annamma, Connor, and Ferri (2013), I have elected to use ‘dis/ability’ in this particular work rather than ‘disability’ as a political stance to disrupt the socially constructed separation of ability and disability. I wanted to recognize how dis/ability changes with age and over time in particular historical and social contexts, which is illustrated in this work. However, I also want to acknowledge the fact that the slash in ‘dis/ability’ has been questioned by some disabled scholars and activists as erasing disability. They have been encouraging us to #SayTheWord, a Twitter hashtag campaign initiated in 2015 by Lawrence Carter-Long, the Director of Communications for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF).

3. The DisCrit tenets articulated by Annamma, Connor, and Ferri (2013, 11) are the following: (1) DisCrit focuses on ways that the forces of racism and ableism circulate interdependently, often in neutralized and invisible ways, to uphold notions of normalcy. (2) DisCrit values multidimensional identities and troubles singular notions of identity such as race or dis/ability or class or gender or sexuality, and so on. (3) DisCrit emphasizes the social constructions of race and ability and yet recognizes the material and psychological impacts of being labeled as raced or dis/abled, which sets one outside of the western cultural norms. (4) DisCrit privileges voices of marginalized populations, traditionally not acknowledged within research. (5) DisCrit considers legal and historical aspects of dis/ability and race and how both have been used separately and together to deny the rights of some citizens. (6) DisCrit recognizes whiteness and Ability as Property and that gains for people labeled with dis/abilities have largely been made as the result of interest convergence of white, middle-class citizens. (7) DisCrit requires activism and supports all forms of resistance.’

4. ‘Boricua’ means a person from Puerto Rico.

5. ‘Boriquen’ is the original name of the island of Puerto Rico. It means the ‘Land of the Brave People’ and was given to the island by its original inhabitants, the Taino people.

6. Daycare in the United States refers to the early education of children younger than 5 years old.

7. ‘Henryism’ is a term derived from the behavior of a U.S. folklore character named John Henry. John Henry was an exceptional Black laborer who was known for his fast and efficient steel driving, and he was asked to compete against a steam drill. Though he successfully beat the machine, he later died of exhaustion as a consequence of the excessive physical exertion. Thus, anyone with ‘Henryism’ is characterized by having mental and physical vigor, a strong work ethic, and a focus on success (Okello 2020).

8. ‘Ableism is Trash’ was a project by the Disability Visibility Project’s Alice Wong in collaboration with artist Jee Hei Park and activist-scholar Mia Mingus.

9. ‘Access is Love’ is a project by the Disability Visibility Project’s Alice Wong in collaboration with activist-scholars Mia Mingus and Sandy Ho. For more information, check out https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2019/02/01/access-is-love/.