Epistemic Justice and Disability Knowledge

Sor Juana insisted on the validity of her own observations and reasoning against those who dismissed her based on gender and status. Epistemic justice in disability rights means honoring disabled people as authorities on their own bodies, experiences, and needs—not subordinating their knowledge to non-disabled expertise. When disabled people are excluded from research, policy design, or medical decisions affecting them, epistemic injustice occurs. Sor Juana's intellectual tradition demands we ask: Whose knowledge counts? Who is trusted to speak truth? Disability rights require centering disabled voices as essential knowers, not passive subjects of study or charity.