We Were Never the Problem: Reclaiming Disability Through Indigenous Worldviews: A Review of Indigenous Disability Studies, edited by John T. Ward
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Keywords
Indigenous Epistemology, Indigenous Disability Studies, Self-Determination, Disability Justice
Abstract
This book review critically engages with Indigenous Disability Studies, edited by John T. Ward, through the lens of a Native Hawaiian researcher, educator, and student. The review explores how the book reframes disability through Indigenous worldviews rooted in relationality, cultural continuity, and decolonial resistance. The review offers a personal and cultural reflection on how the text deepened the author’s understanding of disability history and connected to traditional Hawaiian views that recognize disability as sacred ability.
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Kenika Lorenzo-Elarco, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Kenika Lorenzo Elarco is a Kānaka ʻŌiwi scholar and educator advancing Indigenous education, ʻike Hawaiʻi, shared governance, and self-determination across the paeʻāina. He serves as a Junior Specialist at the College of Education’s Center on Disability Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and as Community Engagement Manager at the W. M. Keck Observatory, where he leads education and workforce development initiatives that connect local students to culturally grounded STEM and career pathways. Over the past five years, he has led and contributed to projects and initiatives serving Native Hawaiian communities, including seven projects funded by the Native Hawaiian Education Program of the U.S. Department of Education. Grounded in Indigenous knowledge systems, his work bridges cultural and scientific learning to expand access for rural and Native Hawaiian communities, strengthening student success, community resilience, and STEM pathways across Hawaiʻi. Across his work, he is committed to creating spaces where Indigenous knowledge systems are recognized as foundational, where relationships guide practice, and where communities are supported in shaping their own futures.