STRUCTURAL ABLEISM

Body, Power, and the Invention of Normalcy

von Luiz Loreto

72 Seiten, Taschenbuch

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

What if the problem was never the step - but the decision to build it? Most people believe ableism shows up only in moments of open cruelty: a slur, a pitying stare, an awkward joke. That belief is comforting - and dangerously incomplete. It lets an entire system off the hook by reducing a structural problem to a matter of individual manners. In this unflinching essay, Luiz Loreto - a psychoanalyst, theologian, and wheelchair user - dismantles that comfort piece by piece. Drawing on decades spent navigating cities, institutions, and pulpits that were never designed for his body, he argues that ableism is not a character flaw. It is a design choice, poured into concrete, coded into hiring algorithms, and embedded in the very language we use to avoid the word "disability."

Inside, you'll find:

- How 19th-century statistics invented the "average man" - and turned every human variation into a deviation to be corrected- Why words like "special" and "inspiring" function as polite tools of exclusion- How urban design - cities, sidewalks, transit systems - quietly declares who is allowed to move freely and who is not- Why medicine, religion, family, and media, even while performing care, reproduce the same exclusionary logic- A psychoanalytic reading of why the divergent body unsettles those who live inside the norm- A theological rethinking of human dignity that requires no cure, no miracle, and no performance

This is not a comfort book. It offers no redemption arc and no inspirational takeaway. It is an honest provocation about the foundations of human worth - and an invitation to see every barrier not as a fact of nature, but as a decision. And every decision can be remade.

Who this book is for: Anyone working in inclusion, education, architecture, healthcare, HR, or public policy. Disabled readers looking for a book that refuses to infantilize their experience. And anyone who has never had to think about any of this - because they never had to.

• Reihe: Independently published
• ISBN: 9798176171266
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 21.09.2026
• Größe: 279 x 216 mm
• Verlag: Independently published