The Work of Inclusion: An Ethnography of Grace, Sin, and Intellectual Disabilities

Description

Using ethnographic research, The Work of Inclusion brings the standpoints of people with intellectual disabilities to the forefront of the theological conversation around disability, inclusion, grace, and sin. In a world shaped by interdependency, developing a theological attunement to intellectual disability helps us to understand that human agency is both enabled by and limited by dependency relationships. Only by recognizing the kinds of complex layers of agency seen in this ethnographic study can Christian ethics more broadly address the place of hope, grace, and resistance against structures of sin and injustice. Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Defining Disability The Risk of Taking a Liberationist Approach to IDD Solidarity, Reflexivity, and Intellectual Disability Ethnography and Embodied Revelation Accountability and Reflexivity Daring to Identify Grace Chapter 1: We Speak for Them: Payton and the Parent Movement A Note on Language Defining and Describing the Feebleminded: Burden or Opportunity? Disability after the Second World War The Parent Movement Naming and Claiming the “Special Child” Rita Jo’s Parents and a New School The Progression of Inclusion From Special to Mainstream Deinstitutionalization The State Children’s Hospital Eastside Center The Special Olympics: Does Inclusion Require Integration? The Future of Parent Advocacy New Opportunities, Similar Limitations Chapter 2: We Speak for Ourselves: Self-Advocacy, Autonomy, and Flourishing Setting the Groundwork: Shared Advocacy and Goals The ADA—No One Left Behind Putting Rights to Good Use: People First and Self-Advocacy Self-Advocacy and Normalization in Disability Services The Claim of Insufficiency for Disability Rights Disability Justice as Necessary for Disability Rights When Inclusion Reaches Belonging: Current Practices and Debates Structured Independence: Payton Industries A Day in the Life Chapter 3: Speaking to Each Other: Dependency, Care Work, and Grace Defining Care Work in the Context of Disability Care Work: Where Dependence and Independence Meet Grace for Clients within Care Work Agency and Epistemic Justice in Care Work Gemma’s Decision Epistemic Justice and Profound Intellectual Disability Care Workers, Justice, and Grace Secondary Dependencies and Care Workers The “Need to Understand, Respect, and Serve Everyone” What Clients Owe Care Workers Care: Differences of Degree, Not Kind Chapter 4: Difficult Conversations Sin, Intent, and Agency Practice Theory and Intention The Sin of Normalcy The Curriculum of Normalcy Hard Agencies: Public Performances and Hidden Transcripts Public Scripts: Euphemizing Normalcy Hidden Transcripts: Gossiping Resisting the Script: Risk and Realism “Soft Agencies”: Tactics in Search of Place Finding Place in Spaces of Normalcy Resistance and Complicity Conclusion: Voices United Catholic Institutions and Inclusion Whose Job Is It Anyways? Tensions in Disability Services Playing Offense Understanding Support Structures Belonging, Normalization, and Human Flourishing Bibliography Index