Welcome to Discrimination and Disadvantage

In recent years, philosophers have increasingly reflected on how various kinds of privilege and advantage are at work in the profession with an eye towards improving the lot of the disadvantaged. This blog is a space for philosophical reflection on various kinds of disadvantage (e.g., discrimination based on racism, classism, sexism, hetero-sexism, ableism, and the intersectionality of these and related phenomena) as well as discussion of such disadvantage within the philosophical community.

The impetus behind the blog begain with a simple question posted by Kevin on Facebook concerning the perceived need for a group blog or FB page for discussing these and related issues. We both agreed that a blog could be an important vehicle for encouraging an ongoing discussion concerning the philosophy of discrimination and disadvantage as well as the role that discrimination and disadvantage play within the discipline of philosophy. In this sense, the blog has a theoretical as well as a practical purpose. While our initial motivation was focused more narrowly on the philosophy of disability, we soon realized it was important for us to broaden the scope to include not just ableism but also other forms of discrimination and disadvantage.

During the coming months, we will try to get more contributors to join our ranks. Hopefully, we can help facilitate some interesting and important discussions moving forward. If you have any suggestions or you would like to be a formal contributor, please let us know! We welcome your feedback and participation! 

p.s.  Owing to the nature of the blog, the posts will be anonymous unless the authors decide to identify themselves in the body of the post (as we have done here). 

Best wishes,

Thomas Nadelhoffer 
Kevin Timpe

Comments

[Helen Beebee]

Does anyone have any suggestions for how I might go about getting rough costings (for the purposes of a UK grant application) for BSL/ASL sign language interpreters? I could pick an interpreter off the web, but I'm guessing some specialised philosophy familiarity might be required, given the number of long and unfamiliar words that get used in the average philosophy (in this case mostly metaphysics) talk. Any suggestions gratefully received!

Also any other suggestions for stuff we should have in place for project conferences/workshops. I think I have access nailed down, thanks to a helpful blog post somewhere of Shelley Tremain's from a little while ago (if I can ever find it again) and a good level of buy-in from my university.

Thanks!

[Shelley Tremain]

Helen, I'm glad that something I've written has helped you! I think that event organizers should provide sign language; however, the provision of sign language does not make an event accessible to all deaf people. This is a misconception. Many deaf people and late-deafened people do not use sign language. The best option for an academic context is to provide CART, that is, real-time captioning. CART also makes oral presentations accessible to some learning disabled people, among others. Captioners work like court stenographers, but are much faster (good ones, that is). Most captioners will ask to look at materials in advance if there will be uncommon words and phrases in a presentation, especially an academic presentation. I did a quick google search to find a CART service in the UK, but didn't find one. If you take a better look than I did, you should locate some there. Hourly rates will likely be made available on a given service's website. You asked for suggestions in addition to information about sign language. Have you taken a look at my article "Introducing Feminist Philosophy of Disability"? I offer numerous directions for accessibility in that article. You can read it on my academia.edu page or follow the link Feminist Philosophy of Disability in the side-bar on the left of your screen.

[Dale Vernor]

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