Introduction: Disability and intersecting statuses

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter examines the concept of intersectionality and its application to disability. It examines the historical background and evolution of the concept. The chapter suggests issues which emerge in its application to the interaction of disability with other social statues. It reviews the contributions in this volume and places them into the context of the study of intersectionality and disability.

Methodology/approach

This chapter is a review of relevant literature as well as a review of the chapters included in the volume.

Findings

The chapter reviews the history of the concept of intersectionality as well as some of its conceptual complexities. It compares race, gender and disability as types of statuses and shows how they are the same as well as how they are different. It shows that the fluidity of the status of disability is true to a lesser extent for race and gender. It sets the stage for the authors’ contributions to the volume.

Social/practical implications

The chapter shows that, in the same ways that race and gender as statuses work together to create inequality, disability and other statuses such as parenthood also work together to affect the lives of, and create inequalities for, persons with disabilities.

Originality/value

The chapter identifies the intellectual relationships of the concepts of master status and intersectionality and discusses some of the complexities of those concepts. It introduces a volume which begins to document the importance of the intersection of disability with other statuses.

Citation

Barnartt, S.N. (2013), "Introduction: Disability and intersecting statuses", Disability and Intersecting Statuses (Research in Social Science and Disability, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3547(2013)0000007003