The Coloniality of Normality: a meeting on a bus

Elizabeth Arenas Thomas

Chapter 13 in Disability in a Turbulent Era, 2026, pp 153-165 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: ‘A Meeting on a Bus’ is a story of a fleeting moment in which I share my reflections on working with Venezuelan migrant mothers in Colombia whose children may have attracted a (dis)ability label. As a mother–activist–researcher my intention is to challenge the violence of the notion of (dis)ability through stories. I argue that labels of (dis)ability place our loved ones into what Maldonado-Torres (2016) calls zones of non-being. The zones of being and non-being have a clear history rooted in colonisation that I will outline briefly through descolonial concepts. I explore spaces of dialogue between Critical Disability Studies and Descolonial Feminism looking for the roots of the conceptualisation of (dis)ability. In questioning the Western binary notion normal/abnormal I borrow from Maria Lugones (2021) the seemingly impossible notion of losing categories by using the lens of a Coloniality of Normality. This lens invites you to question (dis)ability from a historical genealogical view to contest its ethical use. The Coloniality of Normality is an invitation to challenge the epistemic violence of the conceptualisation of (dis)ability in our daily collective, academic, activist, educational, personal and professional praxis spaces.

Keywords: Descolonial Feminism; Coloniality of Normality; Disability; Venezuela forced migration; Critical Disability Studies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035347247
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