Indigenous Perspectives

By: Afsana Islam 

With over five hundred federally recognized tribes in the United States and over four hundred in Latin America, the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas are an incredibly diverse group. That being said, it is extremely difficult to make statements that apply to all without homogenizing their experiences, cultures, and overall identities. They have, however, collectively experienced indelible historical trauma from genocide, settler colonialism, systemic racism, segregation, and assimilation. I have the privilege to reside on Lenapehoking, the ancestral lands of the Lenape peoples, which settlers call New York City. The Bronx, from which I write, is also home to the Mohican, Wappinger, Schaghticoke, and specifically, the Munsee Lenape [1]. These people are known today as the Delaware Nation, in Anadarko, Oklahoma; the Delaware Tribe of Indians, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma; the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, in Bowler, Wisconsin; and the Munsee Delaware Nation, and the Eelūnaapèewii Lahkèewiit, or Delaware Nation at Moraviantown, both in Ontario, Canada [2]. Settlers have broken and continue to break treaties with Indigenous peoples, beginning with the actions of Henry Hudson and Peter Minuit in first appropriating this land. There is no way to amend this damage, and acknowledgements like these are only the first minute step in repatriation and decolonization. 

Across the late Pre-Columbian Americas, Indigenous societies often approached disability and physical difference in ways that contrasted sharply with practices common in Europe during the Late Middle Ages (ca. 1250–1500) and the Early Modern period (ca. 1500–1800). In particular, the Inca Empire (ca. 1400–1533), known in Quechua as Tawantinsuyu, developed social structures that supported people with atypical bodyminds. In Quechua, such individuals were called hank'akuna (singular: hank'a). When the Inka conquered new communities, they extended their own understanding of hank'akuna to those societies. Within Tawantinsuyu, institutions were established to ensure that these individuals were cared for within their communities. Although the Inka state should not be portrayed as entirely benevolent, its degree of social inclusion for hank'akuna was notably distinctive. In this worldview, a hank'a’s differing bodily form could be a source of particular kinds of power and veneration. There are representations of people with dwarfism, kyphosis, visual impairment, and amputations being active – playing music, holding ritual paraphernalia, and partaking in religious ceremonies. The Inkas typically favored representing individuals with pronounced kyphosis, whose physical forms were fetishized in ceremonial effigies, statuary, and ornaments, expressed through various mediums – precious metals like gold and silver, sculpted via clay, and carved from rock. After Spanish colonization, these individuals were stigmatized and pressured into European social frameworks. Even so, Inka perspectives on bodily difference and embodiment continue to influence some modern Quechua and Aymara communities, where traditions of inclusion have persisted despite the disruptions of Spanish colonial rule [3].

Contemporary epistemological claims generally concede that Indigenous languages often lack a word for disability, most likely due to the nature of these languages being largely verb-and context-based. In the case of the Anishinaabe, many of their teachings are predicated on a concept known as “Mino Bimaadiziwin”, or “The Good Path” [4]. Mino Bimaadiziwin is a life-long pursuit of honouring oneself, one’s relations, and all of creation. In Anishinaabe culture, people are named through ceremony to reflect the gifts that they carry or responsibilities they hold within the community. These names often reflect the capacities of individuals in relation to the spiritual realm. This is how children learn from a young age their role within the community, as described by what they can do, what their unique gift is, or what teachings they bring to the collective. Children are seen as gifts to the community; as a result, they are not often discussed in regard to what they lack [5]. Anishinaabe teachings reflect a worldview that emphasizes gifts and capacities rather than deficits; children are recognized for their roles and contributions to the community. In a similar sense, there is little that a Navajo child could do that is seen as wrong or inappropriate behavior [6]. Disability is understood socially, as barriers emerge from societal attitudes rather than only individual impairments, and is intensified by intersections with racism and other forms of discrimination. Historically, disability may have been welcomed in some Indigenous contexts, but settler-colonialism has framed it as a limitation undermining Indigenous futurity and self-determination. 

Another instance in which there is no direct translation for the word for disability is with the Diné (Navajo) people. Diné means “the people" in their own language. Disability needs to be understood as a relational concept nurtured within a value system of care that can start with understanding the power of Diné ancestral stories. These stories carry language and customs that shape Indigenous worldview as a distinct people. The language typically used to interpret these stories was irreconcilable. Disability wasn’t an interchangeable concept that could easily translate. Though it is clear that the social language of disability used across sectors Diné people utilize today conveys the impacts of socialization and assimilation into dominant American culture, including how Diné people adopt and utilize conventional definitions of disability. Accounts across community members highlight how they all had different words for describing disability. Diné language is a descriptive language, and as such, it uses a variety of phrases and words that can describe an array of illnesses, impairments, challenges, and health concerns. These are all diverse and depend on the style of communication, worldview, and socio-political orientation of the person talking about disability. Disability will mean different things to different people depending on the context and perspectives of the person communicating, yet, there is no agreed-upon term for disability that is widely used [7].

The Diné however, do agree upon the word k’é. K’é is not just a word but refers to a way of life, a kinship system founded on accountability to identify relationships with others. However, it is not simply how Diné are related to others, but k’é is the recognition that in being in relationship/kinship to each other, whether through clan system or the simple connection of being human, Diné are therefore responsible to each other. Many Diné have also loosely translated k’é to mean ‘positive relationships’ or ‘relationships oriented towards harmonious outcomes [8]. Finding an easy English exchangeable equivalent is counterintuitive, as Indigenous concepts are distinct and need to be understood within their own cultural contexts. In this context, relationships are more aligned with the concept of interdependence. Not just mutual dependency and consumption, but with the intentions for positive and harmonious outcomes. Care, as a philosophy and practice, is contained in the concept of k’é, and through practice, k’é becomes a lifeway of caretaking. K’é is a lifestyle of caretaking because k’é embodies an ethical framework where being in relation with someone is to be accountable to that person. This differed from Eurocentric and American understanding of accountability and care as a checklist of tasks to complete. Accountability is not solely a condition but is an act of service that our lives revolve around. In other words, “nothing exists in isolation” and we are all connected by our choices or lack thereof, whether intentional or not [9]. K’é is a tool that teaches Diné these findings. 

In regard to disability, k’é is the premise of all Diné ancestral stories about disabled people. The stories feature disabled and/or impaired people, but the stories are not solely about their disability; rather, the stories are about k’é and the varying forms of acceptance and caretaking exhibited. They are framed within the context of a community and are held within a system of belief that centers on our interdependence. These stories elucidate how disability is a relational and collective concept. Before someone is categorized by an aspect of identity, through k’é, both non-human and humans are relations first. They have a place and an orientation that connects them always to land, people, and ancestors, similar to how many languages and cultures are patronymic in naming and categorizing. This ensures that one's actions and thoughts are reflected on and are centered around positive outcomes for both the person/community relating and the person/community who is related to [10].

In examining these examples, it becomes clear that disability in many Indigenous cultures of the Americas has historically been understood through relational, spiritual, and community-centered frameworks rather than through the deficit-based models that later came to dominate Western thought. Contemporary scholarship increasingly recognizes that Indigenous peoples with disabilities experience layered forms of marginalization shaped by the intersections of colonial histories, cultural identity, and ableist systems that privilege Western knowledge production [11]. At the same time, scholars argue that Indigenous epistemologies and community knowledge are essential for challenging these hierarchies and expanding disability discourse beyond Western binaries of ability and impairment [12]. There is no single path that can properly serve Indigenous peoples in repatriation and self-determination, but indigenizing and actively decolonizing our attempts are important to resilience and resistance. 

References 

[1] Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land. (2022). Native-Land.ca; Native-Land.ca. https://native-land.ca/listings/territories/munsee-lenape 

[2] Brave, T., Mirzoeff, N., Nooney, L., Pedlosky, D., & Pow, W. (2024, March). Land Acknowledgment. NYU Steinhardt. https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/departments/media-culture-and-communication/land-acknowledgment 

[3] Hechler, R. S. (2022). The Fourth Lifeway: Recognizing the Legacy of Bodily Difference and Disability within the Inka Empire. Disability Studies Quarterly, 41(4). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v41i4.8459 

[4] Ineese-Nash, N. (2020). Disability as a Colonial Construct: The Missing Discourse of Culture in Conceptualizations of Disabled Indigenous Children. Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 9(3), 28–51. https://doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v9i3.645 

[5]  Ibid

[6] Connors, J. L., & Donnellan, A. M. (1993). Citizenship and culture: the role of disabled people in Navajo society. Disability, Handicap & Society, 8(3), 271. https://doi.org/10.1080/02674649366780271 

[7] Yellowhorse, S. (2023, June 19). Indigeneity and Disability: The Teachings of our Ancestors and Being in Relation Towards Harmonious Outcomes. Disability Visibility Project. https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2023/06/18/indigeneity-and-disability-the-teachings-of-our-ancestors-and-being-in-relation-towards-harmonious-outcomes/ 

[8] Ibid

[9] Lovern, L. (2008). Native American Worldview and the Discourse on Disability. Essays in Philosophy, 9(1), 116. https://doi.org/10.5840/eip20089123 

[10] Connors, J. L., & Donnellan, A. M. (1993). Citizenship and culture: the role of disabled people in Navajo society. Disability, Handicap & Society, 8(3), 271. https://doi.org/10.1080/02674649366780271 

[11] Rabang, Nathan J.; West, Amy E.; Kurtz, Eric; Warne, Jim; and Hiratsuka, Vanessa Y. (2023) "Disability Decolonized: Indigenous Peoples Enacting Self-determination," Developmental Disabilities Network Journal: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 11. 

[12] Ward, J. (2021, September). Indigenous people with disability: Intersectionality of identity from the experience of Indigenous people... ResearchGate; unknown. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/395192909_Indigenous_people_with_disability_Intersectionality_of_identity_from_the_experience_of_Indigenous_people_in_Australia_Sweden_Canada_and_USA