The Weight of Many Selves: Disability Through the Lens of Intersectionality

A Reflection on Change and Possibility

Intersectionality.

A word often repeated in lectures, policy briefings, and advocacy circles—yet its true meaning resists simplicity. It does not live in the abstract language of theory alone; rather, it takes root in the overlapping layers of lived experience. It shapes how individuals are perceived, how they are treated, and whether they are given the freedom to belong to their identity fully.

When disability intersects with race, gender, class, or neurodivergence, the result is rarely a simple addition of challenges. Instead, it is a compounding of inequities, where subtle barriers accumulate until they become structural. These intersections reveal a truth too frequently overlooked: that injustice is rarely singular, and exclusion does not arrive in isolation.

The Quiet Silences That Shape Us

Society tends to flatten complexity into singular definitions. People become “the disabled worker,” “the immigrant with an accent,” or “the Black professional.” Such labels are reductive, obscuring the layered realities that shape the lives of those who stand at multiple margins.

The impact of this reduction is not theoretical. It manifests in countless moments of quiet exclusion: the meeting where your ideas are overlooked until repeated by someone else, the job interview where competence is silently doubted, the professional space where you are present but never fully included. These are not loud rejections, but muted silences; silences that remind individuals that their presence is conditional, not inherent. Over time, such patterns corrode confidence, sending the implicit message that belonging is a privilege to be earned rather than a right to be respected.

When Inclusion Feels Performative

In recent years, many institutions have embraced the language of diversity and inclusion. Yet too often, these declarations fail to extend beyond symbolism. Invitations are extended, but decision-making power remains concentrated elsewhere. Multiply-marginalized individuals may be welcomed into the room, but they are seldom given the authority to shape the agenda.

This kind of inclusion is performative rather than transformative. It demands that individuals fragment their identities, highlighting the aspects that align with dominant expectations while concealing others. What is lost in this process is not only authenticity but also the possibility of genuine progress. Inclusion without redistribution of power risks becoming an echo chamber of good intentions, leaving systemic inequities intact.

Carrying the Weight of Self-Advocacy

For those whose identities intersect, the labor of self-advocacy becomes a near-constant companion. They must explain, justify, and defend their place in spaces not designed for them; reminding others why accommodations matter, clarifying cultural or linguistic needs, or challenging biased assumptions.

This labor is both necessary and exhausting. It diverts time and energy away from professional growth, creativity, and innovation, placing an undue burden on individuals who are already navigating compounded barriers. In practice, the expectation to endlessly self-advocate often becomes a quiet tax on opportunity; a tax paid disproportionately by those least resourced to bear it.

Toward a Different Future

If the lens of intersectionality teaches us anything, it is that equity cannot be achieved by addressing identities in isolation. To create systems that are truly inclusive, we must design with the whole person in mind.

A future of genuine inclusion would mean:

• Accessibility beyond the physical. Ramps and captions are vital, but so are mental health supports, sensory accommodations, cultural competence, and economic fairness.
• Representation with substance. Leadership tables must reflect the diversity of lived experience, not as a gesture of symbolism, but as a recognition that policy and culture are shaped most effectively when guided by those most affected.
• Equity in advancement. Professional spaces must recognize and dismantle invisible barriers in mentorship, evaluation, and recognition, ensuring that opportunity is determined by skill and ambition rather than conformity to narrow norms.
• Coalitions across movements. Disability justice cannot exist apart from racial equity, gender justice, or economic advocacy. True progress requires alliances that are not merely convenient, but committed—alliances that embrace discomfort and challenge privilege.

A Reflection on Progress and Possibility

The path toward inclusion is neither quick nor comfortable. It asks us to listen more deeply, to relinquish assumptions, and to acknowledge how privilege and power operate across our institutions. Yet it also offers immense possibilities: the chance to build a society where identity is not something to fragment or conceal, but something to embrace in its entirety.

We all lose when intersectionality is ignored. Voices are silenced, talents go unrecognized, and communities remain fractured. But when intersectionality is acknowledged and acted upon, we begin to change—not only policies, but the culture of belonging itself.

The work ahead is demanding, but its promise is profound: a future where no one must choose which part of themselves is allowed to be visible, and where inclusion is no longer symbolic, but foundational.

Ian Allan

Self-Advocate for The Arc of Northern Virginia

Ian Allan is a self-advocate with a deep commitment to policy literacy, systems change, and disability justice. Through The Arc of Northern Virginia, he works to ensure that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are not merely served by systems, but are actively shaping them.