‘Abnormal’ Bodies on the Borders of Inclusion: Biopolitics and the Paradox of Disability Surveillance
When conducted according to the biomedical definition of disability, disability surveillance involves monitoring bodies against normative ontological standards, classifying 'abnormality' and problematizing 'abnormal bodies' as risky. While disability surveillance that operates within a biomedical perspective of disability contributes to the exclusion of people with impairments, disability surveillance that recognizes the social construction of disability promotes the inclusion of people with impairments. In examining this paradox, this paper looks at the inconsistent and problematic ways in which the Canadian government defines and measures 'disability', the implication of discriminatory immigration policies and ableist biometric technologies, and the ways in which the collection of statistical data on people with impairments are used. Drawing from the work of Foucault on normality/abnormality and subsequent literature on biopolitics, a theoretical framework with which to resolve this paradox is proposed.
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