Care, Disability, and Violence: Theorizing Complex Dependency in Eva Kittay and Judith Butler

Abstract

How do we theorize the experiences of caregivers abused by their children with autism without intensifying stigma toward disability? Eva Kittay emphasizes examples of extreme vulnerability to overturn myths of independence, but she ignores the possibility that dependents with disabilities may be vulnerable and aggressive. Instead, her work over-emphasizes caregivers' capabilities and the constancy of disabled dependents' vulnerability. I turn to Judith Butler's ethics and her conception of the self as opaque to rethink care amid conflict. Person-centered planning approaches, pioneered by disability rights activists, merge Butler's analysis of opacity with Kittay's work on embodied care, while also inviting a broader network of people to both interpret needs and change communities. By expanding our conceptions of dependency, feminist disability studies can continue the aim of both Kittay and Butler: to humanize unintelligible lives.

Sexual harassment or disinhibition? Residential care staff responses to older adults' unwanted behaviours

“…In this study staff commonly used the metaphor of family to describe their relationships with residents and therefore education that ‘others’ perpetrators of harassment, treating them as solely bad is likely to unhelpful for staff. A more nuanced appreciation, such as that offered by Clifford Simplican (2015) may be most useful; one that recognises the complexities in the intimacy of caregiving with those who are vulnerable, disinhibited and can cause harm.…”

“…Burgess et al (2018) noted that the close emotional ties staff had with residents also impacted on staff propensity to discount multiple minor episodes of behaviours usually associated with sexual harassment. Clifford Simplican (2015) argues that dependency is complex and can include violence; that caregivers are at risk when abuse is discounted due to the assumption it is unintentional.…”

An Ethics of Needs: Deconstructing Neoliberal Biopolitics and Care Ethics with Derrida and Spivak

“…Importantly, however, my ethics of needs also emphasizes that care, when seen as a corporeal-relation-enacted-by-needs, always entails the potential of neglect or other forms of violence. Siding with recent accounts in care theory and critical disability studies, the ethics of needs recognizes that care can be non-innocent [32] and destructive [33], may include violence [34,35], or at least is "not necessarily diametrically opposed" to it [36]. In this regard, the ethics of needs goes beyond care and does not necessarily reach the event where caring takes place.…”

Caregiving for Children Living with Disability in the Informal Settlements in Kenya: Exploring the Social Experiences of the Urban Poor Living in Mukuru Slums in Nairobi

“…Caregivers are individuals entrusted with ensuring needs of an incapacitated individual are met (Clifford Simplican, 2015). Due to the number of persons with disability and the social context in which they occur, state health systems would be unable to provide adequate coverage to the persons with disabilities without the caregiver contributions (Seligman & Darling, 2017).…”

“…A care giver in this study is an individual such as a parent, foster parent, or head of a household, who attends to the needs of a child with a disability. Caregivers support family members who experience disabilities related too much physical and cognitive impairment that restrict normal functioning (Clifford Simplican, 2015). As in most countries, the care of seriously disabled children most often falls to the parents or family of the child and reduces the use of institutional care for the child (Adithyan, Sivakami & Jacob, 2017).…”