“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”
—Audre Lorde
The sociological framework of intersectionality examines how personal identities and social constructs overlap with one another. Originally used by civil rights scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, intersectionality began as a feminist theory to explore how race interacted with gender, and to explore the additional oppression faced by Black women in a racist, patriarchal society. A leading thinker and scholar in the field of critical race theory, Crenshaw, a professor at Columbia Law School, directs the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies and is a co-founder of the African American Policy Forum.
While intersectionality can be a complicated academic theory, it also has a relatively straightforward meaning, typically referring to how marginalized groups and individuals encounter discrimination, and why it’s important for different identities and groups that have historically been discriminated against to work together.
As Kimberlé Crenshaw puts it: “Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It is the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and privilege."
In the disability community, intersectionality conversations have traditionally been lacking. While most people are familiar with the idea that racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism are major obstacles to equality today, disability is often left out of the conversation, or perhaps taken for granted after the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This means the disabled community is also often omitted from companies’ diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
Yet anyone can become disabled, regardless of their sex, gender, race, age, or ethnic background. People can have temporary disabilities or permanent ones. One can be born with a disability or acquire one as a child or as an adult. Disability is a normal part of the human experience.
As any marginalized group does, the disability community faces discrimination, which is often perpetuated alongside discrimination toward BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other groups. Even though important measures like the Civil Rights Act and the ADA were passed, that doesn’t mean the problems of racism, discrimination, and ableism were solved overnight.
Photo of Audre Lorde, Meridel Lesueur, Adrienne Rich 1980, photo by K. Kendall via Wikicommons.
Most issues of equality and justice unfortunately get reduced to “single issue” struggles as Audre Lorde refers to them. The struggle for civil rights or disability rights are seen as separate and unconnected.
Yet if we consider the fight for marriage equality for LGBTQ+ people, the Civil Rights Act, the women’s suffrage movement, or the disability rights movement, these were all distinct movements fighting for equality, made up of diverse groups of people with varying races, genders, and socioeconomic levels. If you were to isolate these struggles or identities as separate or single issues, you run the risk of them failing to be inclusive movements. For instance, the early feminist movement was often criticized for failing to include Black women as part of its struggle. By including women of color, the feminist movement strengthened their outreach and intersections for collaboration.
It is in this way that intersectionality seeks to build a coalition with other identities and groups. As Keri Gray, a cancer survivor and consultant for pioneering organizational inclusive culture explains, “When you live at the intersections of all three of those identities (Black, disabled, woman), then you can’t split your political or social dynamics between these different groups.”
In this way, intersectionality functions as a holistic, integrative approach for embracing one’s identity as made up of multiple different identities, all of which intersect and interact with each other on a daily basis.
Graphic showing overlapping and intersecting identities and social factors.
When multiple oppressed identities are layered on one, or when a person belongs to several oppressed groups, their disadvantages can compound.
As Mary Wickenden writes in the article, “Disability and other Identities-How Do They Intersect?” for the Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences paper, “Disability, gender and discrimination are inextricably interlinked. One in five women globally live with a disability. Women are often at increased risk of developing a disability for reasons, including discrimination in health care and violence against women. Women with disabilities are also three times more likely to be illiterate, and two times less likely to be employed or use the internet.”
Still, reducing such complex identities to simple positive or negative cumulative effects might not be entirely helpful because it can produce an even stronger stigma and be reductive. As Wickenden writes, “Some identities may be more silenced than others for example. The labeling of someone’s or a group's situation (e.g., Black women who are disabled) as “double or triple disadvantaged” is thus simplistic, may be unhelpful and is potentially pathologising in itself. It implies a double (or triple) burden of sexism and ableism (and racism), which then defies a more nuanced look at the person’s situation and potentially overlooks their agency and strengths.”
At its core, intersectionality challenges us to acknowledge that struggles for justice are interconnected. No identity exists in isolation, and no movement for equality can succeed by excluding the experiences of others. By broadening our understanding of how disability intersects with race, gender, sexuality, and class, we not only dismantle barriers for one group but elevate the potential for all marginalized communities to achieve true equity.
At Relay Resources, we are deeply committed to fostering an inclusive world—one where diversity is embraced in all its dimensions, and inclusion is not just an aspiration but a lived reality. Through coalition-building, transforming workplaces and communities, and providing meaningful opportunities for all, we aim to shape a society that recognizes the strength, resilience, and potential within every identity. Because at Relay, we believe one truth: Disabled people belong. Everywhere.
Relay Resources offers employment and business solutions for and with people with disabilities. Learn more about what Relay Resources does here, along with how you can support inclusive workplaces or find employment.