The politicisation of disability experiences. Resources and constraints of anti-disability activism in France

By analysing anti-validist collectives in France, this article explores the emergence of a movement based on the “politicisation of the lived experience” of its members. It has encountered several constraints linked to the characteristics of the disabled population and the history of the disability cause. However, over the past decade, disabled activists have been de-singularising their experiences and placing them within a systemic framework. This has led to the creation of collectives whose demands are part of a new definition of the public problem of disability, competing with the historically dominant definition. The recurring expression of anti-disability activists’ fatigue attests to the persistence of these constraints, which contribute to the instability of this mobilisation and the recurrence of its members’ disengagement, despite their attachment to the cause.