The Politicisation of Disability in the Work of Suzanne Fouché, Expert and Spokesperson for the “Physically Disabled” between the Two World Wars

This article analyses the early years of a disabled intellectual, Suzanne Fouché (1901-1989), who helped shape disability policy in France in the 20th century. It presents her socio-biography as a succession of stances taken in the religious, health and political spheres; in turn, she was a mystical writer well integrated into Catholic literary circles, a trainer of social workers specialising in the guidance and return to work of the “physically diminished” (i.e., the disabled), and a nationalist activist determined to hunt down “social parasites”. This demonstrates the intertwining of conservative values and religious representations in the construction of “disability” as a category, but also the long-standing importance attached to the expertise of sick and disabled people on their own experiences.