Abstract

Capacitisme and validisme are two proposed translations, in the francophone world, of the concept of ableism. This concept arises in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States, in the wake of the disability studies and feminist movements, in order to designate a hierarchical dichotomy between abled and disabled people as well as an system of oppression. This paper proposes to follow the theoretical developments and the activist mobilizations around the notions of capacitisme and validisme, which both appeared at the beginning of the 2000s. Capacitisme appears initially in the Canadian context and in the disabled feminist movements. The gender analogy and the intersectional perspective structure these concepts. While seldom appearing in the activist world, it shows up as an operational concept in some empirical research. Validisme was created, developed and gained importance through the French activist space. It echoes previous work that established the relationship between disability and work/productivity. It has recently emerged in public debate, appearing in the media and dictionaries, but is the subject of little mobilization and theorization in academic research, particularly in empirical studies.