‘There Is Nothing Wrong with Me’: The Materialisation of Disability in Sheltered Employment

Bend, Gemma L. and Priola, Vincenza (2023). ‘There Is Nothing Wrong with Me’: The Materialisation of Disability in Sheltered Employment. Work, Employment and Society, 37(3) pp. 645–664.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170211034762

Abstract

This article explores the lived experiences of disabled men and women who work in sheltered employment. Specifically, it analyses how the entanglement of sociomaterial practices affect disabled workers’ co-constructions of work and disability. Theoretically grounded in posthumanist performativity theory, the article shows how embodied employment experiences within organisational spaces contribute to the materialisation of disability. Findings emerged from ethnographic participant observations and interviews with management and workers at a sheltered workshop. The data highlights how the entanglement of bodies, space, objects and discourses affect materialisations of disability in ways that appear more inclusive than in mainstream employment. However, these sociomaterial practices remain embedded in a productivity-oriented work logic.

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