Towards a Synontology of Ableism

In Sitting Pretty, Rebekah Taussig explains that “ableism thunders in the background of every conversation, every story, every building. It’s the atmosphere we breathe.” This description echoes many accounts of ableism within Disability Studies although few scholars have fully explored the feeling-thinking of ableism ontologically. This paper draws on Arturo Escobar’s definition of relational ontology as “a dense network of interrelation” to interrogate the lived experiences of disabled people, developing a synontology of ableism as an atmosphere. Further, it uses François Raffoul’s concept of event and Edward Casey’s and Christina Sharpe’s conceptions of atmosphere to highlight the affective, temporal, and relational character of experiences with ableism, illuminating how ableism happens and providing theoretical backing for ongoing anti-ableist work.