Skip to main content
CSWE Annual Conference 2025 Main banner

Paper Presentation

Indigenous and Tribal

Session: Indigenous Knowledge & Community Well-Being

No Word for Disability: Indigenous Foundations for Disability Justice and Joy

Indigenous worldviews did not hold a conceptualization of disability that corresponded to the Western social construction that implies abnormality and deficits . The paper presentation offers a history of traditional Indigenous orientation that represent a foundation for disability justice and joy.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, attendees should be able to:
  1. Objective 1: Describe Indigenous orientations to what is termed disability in Western societies through a relational theoretical lens.
  2. Objective 2: Articulate how the United States of America socially constructed the concept of disability created oppression that is best understood by the application of anti-racism theory.
  3. Objective 3: Envision an Indigenous orientation as a foundation for disability justice and joy.