More about the lecture
People with "disabilities" are marginalized in our society and are often not recognized as fully-fledged persons. Their discrimination - ableism - undermines the promise of equality of liberal democracies. Although this stigmatization has structural similarities to racism, sexism or anti-Semitism, it currently receives much less attention.
The lecture analyzed ableism from a philosophical and social-theoretical perspective, using the case of people with cognitive impairments/mental "disabilities" as an example. The origins of ableist thinking in the philosophical tradition are developed, their social functionality is examined and possibilities for overcoming them are questioned - these originate, for example, from critical and feminist theorizing.
More about the speaker
Regina Schidel is a former academic councilor at the Chair of Political Theory and Philosophy at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. She was awarded her doctorate in 2022 with a thesis on "Relationality of human dignity. On the status of people with cognitive impairments in the theory of justice" (Campus 2023). Her dissertation was awarded the WISAG Prize of the Goethe University Frankfurt for the best work in the humanities and social sciences in the field of social cohesion. In December 2025, Suhrkamp will publish her new book "Behinderung und Gesellschaft. Ableism from a philosophical and social-theoretical" perspective. Regina Schidel's research focuses on moral philosophy (human dignity and relational approaches), social philosophy (feminist epistemology, issues of structural oppression, ableist discrimination) and philosophy of law (human rights).