Mapping the government of disability in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: A critical feminist account

People with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome have historically been conceptualised in health and social policy as “undeserving” of societal support, largely via a variant of biopsychosocial model charged with promoting multifaceted harms. Whilst scientific literature has been preoccupied by paradigm conflicts pertaining to (bio)psychosocial and biomedical models of disability, the socio-cultural and biopolitical context driving (bio)psychosocial hegemony has received little mainstream scholarly attention. Nevertheless, this context is addressed within subjugated knowledges, notably through the epistemic labours of disabled activists and marginally situated scholars. This article espouses a feminist standpoint, feminist disability studies, and Foucauldian thought in re-examining and synthesising some of this work, locating psychosocial truth claims within an intersectionally oppressive and ever-expanding government of disability. I argue that greater respect for subjugated knowledges could lead not only to a more strongly objective and nuanced understanding of (bio)psychosocial hegemony but also to greater possibilities in terms of resistance.