by Denise M. Nepveux

About Denise M. Nepveux

Denise M. Nepveux is an Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy at Utica College. As a 2002 Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Nepveux documented life stories of women in Ghana’s disability movement. She continues to collaborate with Ghanaian activists and anthropologist Kathryn Geurts to study changing leadership styles, organizing strategies, gender relations, and transnational funding relationships in this movement. She has published research on sexual health knowledge, identity, and access to sexuality among LGBT youth self-advocates in Ontario and engages in elder organizing efforts in Syracuse, New York.

Activism

book Keywords for Disability Studies

Activism is a practice of, or orientation toward, taking action, often implying the context of a social or political movement. Although activism emphasizes collective action, an individual and his or her actions may be considered “activist” depending on their relationship to larger struggles. Disability activism refers to “collective political action by and for people with disabilities” (Barnes and Mercer 2010, 176), which contributes to “the continuing struggle of disabled people to gain a voice and to shape our destinies” (Longmore 2003, 231). The word “advocacy” is sometimes used interchangeably with activism, since a person may advocate on behalf of others. But although some scholars and activists include advocacy by parents and other nondisabled allies under the category of disability activism, leadership by disabled people in activism is crucial to collective autonomy.