By Cheryl Cumings
This year, the Multicultural Affairs Committee asked its members to write about intersections and how their intersections influence their engagement as a member of a local chapter, a state affiliate, a special-interest affiliate and/or ACB national? In her 1989 article, Professor Kimberl? Crenshaw coined the term "intersectionality" as she wrote about the interacting and compounding impact of the existence of racism and sexism on the lives of Black women. For many years, intersectionality was a concept used by legal academics. As the concept of intersectionality became mainstreamed, it was understood that different intersecting identities such as race, gender, class, ethnicity, and disability affect the way we as individuals function and are impacted within societal systems. In her book "Intersectionality," Patricia Hills Collins wrote, "If we were to ask, 'What is intersectionality?,' we would probably get contradictory and varying responses. Most, however, would probably accept the following general descriptions: Intersectionality investigates how intersecting power relations influence social relations across diverse societies as well as individual experiences in everyday life. As an analytical tool intersectionality views categories of race, class, gender, sexuality, nation, ability, ethnicity, and age among others as interrelated and mutually shaping one another. Intersectionality is a way of understanding and explaining complexity in the world, in people and in human experiences."
Irrespective of what the critics say, I think intersectionality shows that there is complexity and unknown variations of how institutional systems impact the lives of individuals. For me this means that to make a positive change in the lives of all people, we have to be open to listening to people whose input was historically ignored.
For me as a member within a local chapter, a state affiliate, a special-interest affiliate or acting on a national level for the American Council of the Blind it means that even though I AM blind, I am also defined in other ways. I am a Black woman, an immigrant, a Midwesterner, etc., my day-to-day reality as a blind person may be similar on some level but is also uniquely different. It may mean that when I apply for a job, not only am I contending with ableism, but I am also contending with racism, sexism, etc. Therefore, as an ACB member, I may ask my state affiliate to support legislation which opens the doors for people with disabilities to become employed and legislation which supports the civil rights of racial and ethnic minorities. This may also mean fighting to have an accessible electronic ballot and protesting the drawing of district boundaries because it diminishes the impact of Asian-Americans, Black-Americans, the poor, women.
Accepting that intersections are real and have impact means that our assessment of what matters becomes more difficult and more complex. It means we have to listen to each other and understand how the different ways we are impacted by social, economic and political structures influence the solutions we identify to resolve issues. Intersections call on us to accept that our lives and the ways we interact with institutions are not all the same. Therefore, as a membership organization, ACB should be willing to work with its members to understand the complexity and to use that understanding to position the organization to better meet the needs and challenges of current and future members.