Kelly Fagan Robinson

Communication affordances & epistemic injustice: misunderstanding in UK disability assessments

Seminar details

Kelly Fagan Robinson gave the QHRN seminar on the 3rd February 2021听

Title:听Communication affordances & epistemic injustice: misunderstanding in UK disability assessments听

Date:听3rd February 2021

Time: 14:00-15:00

Location: Zoom

Abstract

In 2018, a Parliamentary review gathered 7,000 statements from听disabled benefits claimants who had been subject to Work Capability听Assessments听(WCA)听and/or Personal Independence Payments (PIP) Assessments. Half of the respondents explained that听these assessments increased pain and anxiety to such an extent听that they had attempted self-harm or suicide because of 鈥�shame, guilt, anxiety and paranoia the current system provokes.鈥澨鼴y听2019 more than 1.6 million benefits judgements had been reviewed, with 3-of-4 decisions against claimants ultimately deemed incorrect and overturned.听

This exploratory paper听focuses on the layers 鈥� referred to here as communication 鈥榓ffordances鈥� (sensu听Keane 2018. Gibson 1979)听鈥撎齮hat give rise to individual understanding of what 'disability' can mean in testimonial settings.听Affordances听in my usage refer to the multitude of elements such as education, upbringing,听 bodies, languages and a host of others influences which听shape individual interpretations听and categories of 'disabled' personhood.听

I propose that using discourse ethnography to document and 'map' these constitutive layers offers a key means of incorporating diverse politically, emotionally and ethically charged personal attitudes built over lifetimes, pivotal integrants in the situated nature of claimant-assessor relations collapse.听听Given that the "long-term adverse effects"听that legally render claimants eligible for public support under the Equalities Act 2010 can take many forms, whether mental, physical, or social, eligibility criteria and expectations of disability are subject to interpretations which do not universally align.听I argue听that such communication dissonances听may听lead to epistemic injustice (Fricker 2007. Wanderer 2017) with consequences including听mental health crises, poverty and suicide.听

Biography

Kelly Fagan Robinson is a Lecturer in Medical Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. Robinson鈥檚 research focuses on the ways that individual histories, bodies, sensorial hierarchies, education, and experiences of formalised care can generate epistemic dissonances and injustices for people in the UK and internationally. Her social anthropology doctoral research (果冻影院) investigated institutional reception of 鈥� or resistance to 鈥� deaf-centred communication practices. Her current research focuses on the ways that social relations construct and maintain categories of personhood, and how individual definitions inform knowledge-making particularly within systems of public welfare.听She will commence a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship from May 2021, "Communication Faultlines on the Frontlines," examining transformations in definitions of 'support' in the UK following ten years of austerity, the introduction of algorithmic welfare assessments, as well as the recent effects of Brexit and Covid19.

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