On the right to accommodation for Canadians with disabilities: space, access, and identity during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In this article, I explore the societal reluctance to accommodate and include persons with illnesses/disabilities, which has rendered them “second-class” citizens. This reluctance exists despite several pieces of legislation whose goal is to create an inclusive and accepting social as well as physical environment across Canada. In October 2020, the Ontario government introduced a mask mandate as a non-medical procedure to limit the spread of COVID-19. I argue that this mandate has further reduced civil society’s willingness to accommodate those who are unable to wear a mask due to their disability or medical condition, especially when their illness or disability is not visibly discernible. By making use of the concept of “state of exception” developed by Giorgio Agamben, and the biopower/biopolitics paradigm introduced by Michel Foucault, I attempt to examine what the mask mandate means for persons with disabilities as well as for society at large. My investigation is an effort to uncover why we are finding ourselves in a situation of inaccessibility and exclusion at this moment in time, despite the widespread rhetoric of unity and support for each other throughout the pandemic. Through a reading of Agamben, I aim to uncover why persons with disabilities have been, once again, considered justifiable collateral damage on the altar of necessity (in this case, the necessity to fight COVID- 19 at all costs).