Reflections of American Muslim Women with Disability and as Caretakers

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

Publisher

Duke University Press

Source Publication

Journal of Middle East Women's Studies

Source ISSN

1558-9579

Original Item ID

DOI: 10.1215/15525864-12431148

Abstract

Through the lens of feminist and cultural approaches, this article explores the experiences of American Muslim women who are either individuals with disability or serve as caregivers to family members with disability. It examines the intersection of disability identity and gender relations through an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to gain insights into how perceptions of normalcy with regard to ethnicity, culture, religion, gender, and body operate to create multiple forms of oppression. In addition to socially constructed meanings of normalcy, particularly regarding disabled female body, stigma is further perpetuated and produced by cultural, ethnic, and religious influences in diaspora and minority contexts. Yet women from diverse backgrounds remain underrepresented in the scholarship, as most of the existing research in feminist disability studies continues to center white female experiences. To help fill this gap, this study employs oral history techniques and brings the narratives of first- and second-generation Muslim women in Milwaukee to the forefront. These narratives reveal that disability, as a form of identity, is constructed within a complex web of factors, including the essentialization of physical characteristics, where the impairment of a person becomes their primary identity.

Comments

Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, 2026. Online before print. DOI.

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