{"id":394,"date":"2022-02-03T15:43:53","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T20:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/digitaldisabilitystudies\/?post_type=chapter&p=394"},"modified":"2022-02-28T16:33:06","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T21:33:06","slug":"epistemology","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/digitaldisabilitystudies\/chapter\/epistemology\/","title":{"raw":"1.4 Epistemology","rendered":"1.4 Epistemology"},"content":{"raw":"
\u201cWhen in those in-between moments\u2014in between male and female, or in between death and health\u2014 when do you still count as a human?\u201d\r\nTaylor (12:30)<\/div>\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nBefore going any further, let\u2019s take a moment to clarify what is meant by \u2018[pb_glossary id=\"836\"]epistemology[\/pb_glossary]\u2019.\r\n\r\nEpistemology refers to theories of knowledge: How do we know what we know? How does \u2018knowledge\u2019 become knowledge? Where is it found, and what is the process by which it is accepted?\r\n\r\nThese questions can be a lot to grapple with, but, as we will soon see, they are questions at the foundation of disability studies, which discipline must revise its answer to again and again, and again.\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"11\"]<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis process of investigating knowledge and asking questions about its logical foundations and historical origins is one way of \u2018doing\u2019 epistemology. Disability studies is constantly engaged in this examination of where knowledge about disability comes from.\r\n\r\nDisability studies examines the contexts<\/em> in which knowledge is produced, and the social locations of those involved in its production. The authority of professional \u2018experts\u2019 on disability is questioned; conversely, the knowledge that comes with experience is highly valued. The social location or positionality of the speaker is considered to be highly relevant to the content of their ideas (Alcoff, 1991; Prince, 2016).\r\n\r\nDifferent perspectives do not emerge in a vacuum. Understanding how knowledge about disability is constructed in different ways also requires us to think about power. In society, some individuals are listened to more than others. Some individuals, such as psychiatrists and professors, are able to impose their knowledge upon others. Disability studies exposes the relationship between ideas about disability and the complex web of power and social relations from which those ideas emerge, and through which they are deployed (Alcoff, 1991; Prince, 2016).\r\n\r\nYou can continue watching, reading or listening to the video here (the video and transcript start from 12:29, the quote above)\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"6\"]<\/span>\r\n\r\nClick here to continue reading the Examined Life video transcript, starting after the quote above<\/a>","rendered":"
\u201cWhen in those in-between moments\u2014in between male and female, or in between death and health\u2014 when do you still count as a human?\u201d
\nTaylor (12:30)<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Before going any further, let\u2019s take a moment to clarify what is meant by \u2018