Indigenous Disability Studies

This essential volume offers a comprehensive approach to understanding disability through Indigenous perspectives, challenging Western frameworks by centering the lived experiences and socio-cultural beliefs of Indigenous scholars. The book employs a distinctions-based methodology that honors the unique knowledge systems of diverse Indigenous communities while examining how legal, economic, and political inequalities shape disability experiences. Through rigorous scholarship, it demonstrates how Indigenous people maintain considerable knowledge across multiple capacities despite systemic barriers imposed by health, education, and governmental authorities. The work fundamentally reorients disability discourse by validating Indigenous ways of knowing as legitimate epistemological frameworks.

What distinguishes this contribution is its commitment to including various knowledge systems without hierarchy, creating a dialogue between Indigenous and Western understandings of ability and embodiment. Readers engaged in disability justice, Indigenous studies, and health equity will find transformative insights about how administrative systems perpetuate inequality while Indigenous communities cultivate resilience. The book's intersectional analysis provides crucial tools for policymakers, educators, and activists seeking to dismantle colonial structures in healthcare and social services. By foregrounding Indigenous scholarship, this work doesn't just add to existing discourse—it fundamentally expands our understanding of what disability studies can be when liberated from Western paradigms.