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In The Counterconforming Body, Scott D. Landes presents a new definition of disability that introduces the idea of the "counterconforming body." This is a body that inherently challenges ableist normative standards and avoids pathologizing disability or positioning the disabled body as passive. Landes's approach recognizes the activity of the disabled body; avoids conflating disability with health status; and allows for a better measurement of disability. Importantly for social scientists and demographers who need reliable data measurements, understanding disability as counterconforming allows for better differentiation between disability, health, and functional limitations, a shift that is necessary to both more accurately count the disabled population and understand the intersections of these distinct experiences.
Landes takes on difficult issues in the disabled community. He shows that while some may argue for "disability pride" as a response to one's body, that position fails to address and provide space to live with and confront the complexity of having a body that is often uncooperative, full of pain, frequently marginalized by others, and at times incomprehensible even to the disabled person. In contrast, disability as counterconforming provides a way to recognize both the challenges and joys, the good and bad bits, associated with being disabled. Further, defining disability as the body’s inherent counterconformity to ableist prescriptive physical and mental normative standards pivots our understanding of disability to an active, and potentially meaning-generating reality, that can further fuel disability advocacy and protest, and lead to more equitable disability measures that help reduce the marginalization of disabled people within an ableist society. Disability as counterconforming aligns with the principles of disability justice, with an emphasis on embracing embodied experience as a critical guide and reference, pointing us toward justice and liberation. Understanding disability as counterconforming also makes room for disabled people who do not embrace disability justice or any other disability identity related movements. Whether integrated into one’s identity or not, the disabled body persists as a body that inherently counterconforms to ableism.
"This innovative and provocative book challenges dominant narratives and redefines how we understand disability, identity, embodiment, and belonging. By exploring several complex dimensions of counterconforming, Landes pushes against entrenched ableist normative standards, offering a bold reimagining grounded in both scholarship and lived experience. This is a bold disruption to the field that interrogates tensions between disabled and nondisabled experiences to illustrate examples of counterconforming that occur regularly. This is essential reading for those ready to question assumptions, expand their thinking, and engage with work that disrupts the norm."
"Allowing the body to take an active role and placing it at the center of analysis, while untangling health problems and functional limitations from disability, Landes revolutionizes how we think about disability, both theoretically and, perhaps even more importantly, in practice. Taking on the challenge of defining and measuring disability for the purpose of producing just and reliable data that should shape policy and law, this book offers a breath of fresh air for both empirical researchers and disability theorists. Its ability to unite these audiences and speak to both in a coherent way that respects both traditions is what makes it one of the most important contributions to disability studies in recent years."
"The Counterconforming Body is a powerful and timely text that challenges ableist frameworks and reshapes how disabled people are categorized and counted."