Claiming Disability In Appalachia

Appalachia has been seen as a disabled region, commonly positioned as needing development to be brought in line with the rest of the United States. Instead of automatically assuming that this disablement is negative, I interrogate the multiple meanings and potentialities of disability. I draw on the work of disability scholars and activists to discuss how disability provides a transformative site for social justice. Taking a critical disability studies methodology, I track the ways in which Appalachia has been disabled, primarily through histories of environmental extraction and domination by outside forces. Perceptions of Appalachia as a disabled region, along with lived experiences of disability and impairment, are salient to Appalachia’s past, present, and future. I consider how disability relates to and can inform social movements in Appalachia, including labor, environmental justice, LGBTQ+ organizing, and caregiving. Throughout diverse case studies that challenge the boundaries of what we consider disability, I argue that understanding disability is crucial to the question: What would a good future for Appalachia look like? Instead of assuming that this hypothetical future would include an eradication of disability, I contend that disability offers a source of cultural knowledge and expertise, especially for cross-movement building in times of precarity.