Dispositifs of ‘Dis/ability’ in Transformation: (employed) work as biographical experience and everyday practice in the context of dis/ability

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Anne Waldschmidt
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research ; Sociological Theory
• Term: from 2018 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 405662445

The problematisation of dis/ability has been in a process of transformation for some time. With the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities this dynamic has accelerated. This project reconstructs how “dispositifs” as strategic and dynamic apparatus change current ways of thinking, managing and doing “dis/ability”. It investigates relevant discourses, institutions, practices, forms and ways of subjectivation and explores their intersections. Focusing on (employed) work as main life situation it considers, first, the life courses of two age groups of men and women with different impairments and, second, the work experiences of persons with learning difficulties in sheltered workshops and inclusive employment. To generate original data, narrative-oriented, guided interviews, ethnographic observation and group discussions are used; discourse analysis and dispositif analysis serve for an intersectionally oriented data interpretation. The integrative research approach combines perspectives of general sociology, sociology of disability and disability studies. This research provides contributions to current debates about inclusion, participation and intersectionality.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants