Search

This paper considers sociological understandings of what constitutes disability. Current meanings of disability in both disability studies and medical sociology are examined and compared, using selected articles from leading authors in each discipline as case studies. These disciplines are often represented as offering starkly contrasting approaches to disability, with their differences amounting to a disciplinary 'divide'. It is argued that, on closer inspection, common ground can be found between some writers in disability studies and medical sociology. It is suggested that this situation has arisen because, in disability studies, the social relational understanding of disability developed by Vic Finkelstein and Paul Hunt in the 1970s has been lost over time, overshadowed by the rise to prominence of its offspring: the social model of disability. The paper concludes with some reflections on the need to revive a social relational understanding of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been very limited debate about the usefulness of links between later life and disability studies. The paper reviews the arguments for and against a closer association. The social model of disability makes crucial the separation of disability from impairment and shows that it is society that does the disabling. This is never so clear as in the case of housing policies for older people, the focus of this article. Older people suffer discrimination and have to submit to a medical model of later life if they receive health or social care services. The argument against an association between later life studies and disability studies is that later life is an immensely diverse experience, much of it nothing to do with disability. Moreover, some older people reject the negative connotation when later life is equated with disability. The paper argues, however, for a specific application of the social model of disability to the situation of older people with impairments who receive services. It also asserts that the social model of disability can be accommodated in critical gerontology and, in particular, in a post-modern perspective. The paper concludes with examples of the value of the social model of disability at both the policy and political levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author responds to the paper by Tom Shakespeare and Nicholas Watson defending the social model in its wider context. Disability study critiques have emphasised the way in which medical sociologists' work on the experience of illness have often underplayed the influence of structures; and simultaneously how, in their desire to move away from the individualised "tragedy" model of disability, much of their own work has concentrated on structures, and rather less on the subtleties and complexities of lived experience. The Leeds Conference "Exploring the Divide" in March 1996 was organised precisely to address these issues and to see if a more sensitive rapprochement might be found between the two. Shakespeare has argued elsewhere that one of the achievements of the Disability Movement has been to separate impairment from disability. Whilst author appreciate the force of these arguments, and their grounding in disabled people's experience of marginalisation and exclusion from mainstream society, his two papers argue that attempts to treat the two as discrete entities glosses over the complexity of individual lives.

Len Barton has pioneered the sociological study of education in the areas of disability studies and inclusive education. This paper addresses an argument developed by Len Barton that social exclusion, of which disablism is one element, (1) has many compounding forms of differing exclusions, (2) is not a natural but a socially constructed process, (3) has no single factor that can remove it and (4) is in constant need of conceptual analysis. Our paper aims to address each of these four challenging themes in relation to the contemporary societal position of disabled children, their families and key professionals that work around them, with a specific focus on schools. First, we explore the ways in which disabled childhoods are imbricated with other forms of exclusion. Second, we consider the ways in which 'disability', 'impairment' and 'child' are consistently being reproduced in particular and often contradictory ways by disability discourses. Third, we consider the need to work with numerous forms of educational intervention that address the exclusion of disabled children. Fourth, we conclude with an appeal to develop disability studies in ways that build on the shoulders of (social model) greats - such as Len Barton - whilst being receptive to other transformative perspectives from queer, feminist and postcolonial studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disability should be a concern for those interested in analysing and subverting the cultural politics of education. In this paper we address this concern through connecting critical analyses of 'developmental disabilities' (formerly 'mental retardation'), disability studies and poststructuralism. We target normative constructions of 'developmental disabilities' - and we propose alternative dynamic possibilities - through reference to narratives from our political and personal work with people with the label of 'developmental disabilities'. Our aim is to unveil the ways in which we might understand the cultural formations of 'impairment' - as they relate to 'developmental disabilities' - in order to propel scholars, activists and practitioners towards a cultural politics of inclusion. First, we summarise some key debates from disability studies that have engaged with 'impairment': social model, relational and psychosocial models. We suggest that these debates benefit from a more grounded engagement with poststructuralist ideas. Second, we bring in the work of the poststructuralist thinkers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari and the poststructuralist feminist Rosi Braidotti to tackle the social, historical, cultural and political conditions of 'developmental disabilities' through experimentation with rhizomes and nomads. In conclusion, we appeal for the development of a cultural politics of 'impairment' and 'developmental disabilities' that draws upon a vocabulary applicable to the post-modern subject of the contemporary world: as uncertain, productive and moveable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past discussions of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) have focused minimally, if at all, on quality of life. This paper critically discusses the contribution of the ICF to quality of life concept development, and the impact that the ICF has had thus far on health-related quality of life measurement. “Contribution” focuses on modelling the relationship between disablement and quality of life, evaluating the content of existing instruments, and thinking holistically about the individual. “Impact” relates to the association of quality of life with functioning, pathology and outcomes, the trend towards life compartmentalization, and the disproportionate emphasis on individuals' functioning at the expense of their life context. Examples are drawn from adult acquired conditions (mainly aphasia), and terminology used in the paper reflects a rehabilitation stage of service provision. The World Health Organization's approach to quality of life definition and measurement is also discussed. An operational definition of quality of life for adults with acquired communication and swallowing disorders is presented, alongside an alternative conceptualization of quality of life. This paper ends with recommendations for future research concerning the importance of context, the subjective or personal perspective, and having a goals orientation for life as well as rehabilitation. It is also argued here that the ICF and quality of life are different constructs and that quality of life should be the starting point for understanding the client's perspective of his/her goals and/or his/her disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supported employment is now regarded as a major vehicle for enabling people with learning difficulties to enter employment. The purpose of this paper is to use the evidence provided by three case studies of people with learning difficulties who have participated in supported employment to critically examine its fundamental premises. The paper argues that the influences of normalisation theory and the US model of supported employment have combined in the UK to form a variant of supported employment which, in pursuing the concept of real job, fails to adequately address the consequences of impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For at least three decades, the issue of physical accessibility has been a focus of analysis amongst some spatial scientists, including geographers, urban planners and architects. Whilst such 'conventional' access studies have assumed an important role as policy evaluation/ critique, their theoretical significance has been extremely limited. The understanding of accessibility, and the highly contested set of policy fields that regulates this, would be deepened if a wider range of socio-political theory was used to examine these issues. This paper contributes to the social theorisation of access by critically exploring how the 'reflexive modernisation' thesis of Ulrich Beck might be applied to the geographical understanding of disablement. The paper demonstrates how Beck's theoretical framework can be used to enrich understanding of the genesis and mediation of inaccessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue that Jonathan Glover, a prominent advocate of human genetic engineering, relies on a limited naturalistic account of normal human function in his defense of genetic engineering as a means of decreasing future instances of disability. I show that his concept of disability and the normative argument informed by it in his Choosing Children: Genes, Disability, and Design fails to incorporate the phenomenological dimension of embodiment, and that this dimension should be included in any account of disability and human flourishing. Such inclusion, however, requires us to consider seriously the counterintuitive view that racial minorities are constitutionally disabled in racist societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is disability? What are the psychosocial implications of disability? Every human being develops in a social context, occupies certain positions and plays social roles in the society of which it is part. All these are fundamental rights of every citizen regardless of his condition of normality or deviation from it. Among the policies adopted by our country for accession to the European Union we can include legal aspect related to the rights of persons with disabilities. Disability imposes certain boundaries, psychological and social aspects which it involves are known theoretically, but their practical remedy is far from being achieved. The purpose of this paper is an approach to disability in its multiple aspects, with reference to the implications that the social perception of this phenomenon has on the individuals and highlighting the effects of disability on the family and its members. Being a person with disabilities often attracts unpleasant experiences associated with stigma, isolation, discrimination, marginalization, all with repercussions on the development and socio-professional integration of this category of individuals. Disability is seen as a limitation of the individual to the opportunities offered by the society, it raises many problems not only on the development of the people with disability, but also on other family members who have to exceed various requirements related to their upbringing and education, to fight barriers of society. Diversity that surrounds us is an integral part of our society, so the new policies adopted by our country on the rights of persons with disabilities have to be successfully implemented, as acceptance and respect for the individuality are signs of advanced societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the objective to eradicate disability related discrimination and promote choice, control, independence and inclusion for all individuals, the personalisation agenda paved the way for a transformation of social care and disability services in the UK. This paper explores personalisation both as avisionof care and support services and as atoolkitpromoted by government policies in order to allow for such vision to translate into practice – the use of direct payments and personal budgets being an example. A qualitative case study analysis has been conducted in the context of care services for disabled young people and by means of in-depth interviews with professionals, parents and the young people themselves. Such analysis reconstructs the implementation of personalisation showing how the toolkit offered by government policies has been used and interpreted differently by the different actors in the field and how this has brought to a wide range of opportunities but also risks. What seems to emerge from the study is that the vision of personalisation risks being hampered by its toolkit and that alternatives might be needed in order to safeguard the potential of personalisation as a vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across Europe, and particularly since the 2008 Financial Crisis, new demands for tailor-made services came from different actors and perspectives: user-led organizations, intellectuals, policy makers, social workers, advocacy organizations, which call for a new way of programming, realizing and evaluating social policies. Personalization became a relevant part of the so called ‘welfare innovation narrative’, which concerns – to name but a few – English personalization agenda, Scottish self-directed support, Finnish education system, Norwegian cash-for-care policies. Even the European Commission is addressing new social services, reshaped through users’ capabilities. The aim of this paper is to critically explain, through a case study focused on the Sardinian disability policy, how social policy's morphogenetic cycles influence the governance of personalized disability plans and, consequently, the possibility of their implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses remote banking services in Britain as far as the visually impaired people's work with them is concerned. Most of the websites have a minimum level of accessibility for these people, especially the sites of the banks with foreign capital. Large banks with a great number of branches, on the contrary, provide full access to banking services on their websites. The paper discusses the world experience of the banking system in providing the disabled people with an opportunity to actively participate in all spheres of society by creating a barrier-free environment with the introduction of innovative products and electronic means of communication. Apart from the implementation of social protection mechanisms, the benefits obtained by the banks fully compensate for the costs incurred. The information in the paper is of practical interest for experts in sociology of disability, as well as for public organizations helping disabled people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The biomedicalist conceptualization of disablement as a personal medical tragedy has been criticized by disability studies scholars for discounting the difference between disability and impairment and the ways disability is produced by socio-environmental factors. This paper discusses prospects for partnerships between disability studies teaching/research and medical education; addresses some of the themes around the necessity of critical disability studies training for medical students; and examines a selection of issues and themes that have arisen from disability education courses within medical schools globally. The paper concludes that providing there is a commitment from senior management, universities are well positioned to apply both vertical and horizontal approaches to teaching disability studies to medical students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a comparative evaluation of two approaches to the organisation of learning disability services and individualised support for people with learning difficulties – Social Role Valorization (SRV) and the Social Model of Disability. Brief descriptive accounts of each approach are given, together with reference to critiques of SRV from UK academics, including those writing from a Social Model perspective. The applicability of the Social Model to people with learning difficulties, and critiques of their marginalization by it, are also discussed. The paper goes on to argue that whilst the analysis of devaluation is similar between the two approaches, academic debates have focussed more on ideological differences, thus losing the opportunity for a sharing of their respective contributions to addressing oppression. The possibility of a ‘dialogue for practice’ is raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Government plans to introduce a new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR), covering disability, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief and age. This presents both opportunities and risks for the achievement of disability equality. This paper analyses implications and proposes a long term disability rights agenda, geared to mainstreaming disability equality into the CEHR and major policy developments across Government. It suggests that the widest involvement of disabled people, policy makers and academics in the field of disability will be necessary to achieve this. The DRC will be very active in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the progress to date in developing public policy, national infrastructure, and services in support of persons with disabilities seeking to enter and sustain meaningful employment. It reports on a study of 'best practices' in the aftermath of the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) and the Workforce Investment Act (1998). Unresolved disability-employment issues are explored and the paper concludes by calling for greater involvement by persons with disabilities to help resolve existing issues and improve services by identifying and promoting the adoption of 'best practices.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the researcher's experiences as a countryside access advisor in exploring some of the ways that social model ideas can influence the development of organizational policy and practice in mainstream settings. It argues that, in seeking to influence the development of more inclusive policies and practices, disability studies needs to look for new ways of engaging with diverse audiences of practitioners who are used to operating within an individual model of disability, and who may therefore see no immediate organizational advantages to adopting social model principles in their work. This evolutionary process demands in particular that we work constantly towards finding new, more accessible, ways of explaining social model ideas to mainstream audiences. Thus, in a social climate that continues to tolerate disabled people's oppression, disability studies has a key role to play in demonstrating to theorists, policy-makers and practitioners why and how social model ideas can support the move towards inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, a growing number of scholars in Disability Studies have begun to critique the social model of disability. This paper documents the movement in these critiques, analyzing several ways paradigms and theories have been used in relation to the social model and the ways in which resistance plays a part in these paradigms. In the second part of the paper, we begin to explore the implications of resistance theory for disability theory, noting that resistance appears to exist throughout all paradigms at play in disability studies while it is rarely explicitly addressed. We conclude by describing the potential use of resistance theory for both theory and praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and analyzes a community intervention class project in a university community that led to the establishment of an officially recognized campus organization, Open D.O.O.R.S. (Disability Organization for Opportunity, Resources, and Services), to address issues of people with disabilities. It emphasizes the need for providing students knowledge of community strategies at a time when the profession is facing increased social problems and fewer social resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that disabled people can be healthy. I argue, first, following the well-known 'social model of disability', that we should prefer a usage of 'disabled' which does not imply any kind of impairment that is essentially inconsistent with health. This is because (a) one can be disabled only because limited by false social perception of impairment and (b) one can be, if impaired, disabled not because of the impairment but rather only because of the social response to it. Second, I argue that it is often wrong to use the term 'healthy' in a way that makes health inconsistent with any degree whatsoever of health-relevant bodily dysfunction. Whether someone is 'healthy' properly-so-called depends on standards of health presupposed in conversational context. Sometimes, I argue, these standards are or ought to be lax enough to allow some people with some health deficits still to count as 'healthy' per se. Taking inspiration from David Lewis and Mary Kate Mcgowan, I go on to argue that denying that someone is 'healthy' in a context typically succeeds in shifting going presuppositions to require standards strict enough to make that denial acceptable. And this, I conclude by arguing, often constitutes an abuse of conversational power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to develop a sociology of impairment and to theorise embodiment in the lebenswelt. Disability studies has failed to address adequately the fundamental issue of bodily agency. The impaired body is represented as a passive recipient of social forces. Such a conception of the body is losing ground within social theory. This paper attempts to overcome disability studies' disembodied view of disability by utilising a phenomenological concept of embodiment. Phenomenology offers the opportunity to transcend the traditional Cartesian dualisms which posit the body as a passive precultural object. However, such a view, when extended to impairment is empty of political content since phenomenological analyses have relied upon medicalised and individualised understandings of disability. In order to counter the disablism evident in phenomenology on the one side and disability studies' disembodied view of disability on the other, we argue for a radical phenomenological approach to the (impaired) body. To demonstrate the vitality of such an approach, we also attempt to deploy Leders' (1990) concept of dysappearance as a means of analysing the carnal politics of everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper some of the most significant literature on the sociology of physical disability is examined. Special attention is paid to the labeling perspective because it has dominated thinking about the social and emotional adjustment of disabled individuals during recent years. Much of the empirical research, however, indicates that a key problem in the labeling theory is explaining why many disabled individuals do not passively accept the labels that are applied to them. Hence, two alternative conceptual perspectives, the negotiated outcome perspective and the compensatory perspective, are offered to account for the behavior and emotional adjustment of some physically disabled individuals. In addition, some possible conditioning variables are discussed in terms of their theoretical significance and implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the case for and how would one begin to construct a sociology of impairment? This paper argues that the realignment of the disability/impairment distinction is vital for the identity politics of the disability movement. The body is at the heart of contemporary political and theoretical debate, yet the social model of disability makes it an exile. The transformation of the body from a reactionary to an emancipatory concept implies a sociology of impairment. This paper explores the contribution that post-structuralism and phenomenology might make to this end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author responds to the paper by Tom Shakespeare and Nicholas Watson that defends the social model of disability in its wider context. The WHO model has been widely used as a model of disability and continues to be the implicit model adopted in the delivery of health care. The model has been criticised in a variety of ways with resulting suggestions that it be modified or abandoned. However the model offers a useful starting point by clearly separating the concepts of "impairment" and "disability." The model proposes that disability is the result of impairment, but opens up the possibility that other factors may also influence disability. Clarification of these other factors is essential to the viability of this model. Since disability is defined in behavioural terms, it seems obvious that disability should be influenced by the same variables as influence other behaviours, including physiological, environmental, social, cognitive and emotional factors. The author has proposed that it is possible to integrate the WHO model with some of the current most strongly validated theories of behaviour.

Background: The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) offers opportunity against a historical background of underfunded and fragmented services for people with disability. For people with acquired brain injury (ABI), concerns have been raised about how they access NDIS individualised funded supports. The aim of this research was to explore how community-dwelling individuals with ABI in Queensland navigate the NDIS participant pathway to individualised funded supports. Methods: This study used a multiple case study design within a policy implementation framework. Twelve people with ABI, nine family members and eight NDIS funded and mainstream service providers participated. Data was collected from relevant NDIS documentation, health records and semi-structured interviews with individuals with ABI, family members, and service providers. Results: The current study highlighted the complexity of navigating the NDIS participant pathway of access, planning, implementation and review for people with ABI, their family and service providers. The NDIS pathway was impacted by the insurance and market based NDIS model itself, time, communication, and the requirement for external supports. Equally, the process was affected by environmental factors, individual person and injury factors as well as service providers, with a range of outcomes evident at the individual, family and system level. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the NDIS has struggled to make specific allowance for people with ABI and the complexity of their disabilities. Providing people with ABI access to the NDIS Complex Support Needs Pathway may redress many of the difficulties people with ABI experience accessing and using NDIS funded supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessibility of the built environment plays a significant role in the lives of persons with disabilities, as lack of accessibility results in exclusion from mainstream society. This paper aims to highlight the barriers faced by women with locomotor disabilities to access the built environment in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) of India. Building upon the author's M. Phil research, the paper engages with aspects of the lives of study participants that have hindered their access to the built environment. In-depth interviews with 12 women with different locomotor disabilities were conducted and the transcripts were analysed using the intersectionality paradigm. The analysis highlights problems faced by the women while accessing education, employment, healthcare and public transportation. These problems include negative attitudes of society which restrict the women's mobility outside their homes. The findings demonstrate that accessibility of the built environment is determined by a myriad of factors which encompass components elaborated by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) including health condition, personal factors and environmental factors. The paper discusses these findings in light of the Accessible India Campaign, recently introduced by the Government of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the implications of the disability grant for household members' well-being and adults' success on ART (antiretroviral therapy). It uses case studies based on data from an in-depth qualitative study of 10 households in KwaZulu-Natal. Receipt of the disability grant ensured that the basic needs of the HIV-infected adult could be met by other household members, especially when the grant was received when the person first met the qualifying criteria and in conjunction with ART. Where treatment was effective, HIV-infected adults were able to make substantial contributions to the well-being of other members in addition to the financial support provided by the grant itself. Thus, early access to financial support in conjunction with commencing ART may lead to improved health outcomes and reduce poverty and vulnerability associated with illness in poor households. This synergistic relationship between social welfare and treatment may in turn contribute to greater cost-efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses parents' narratives on cochlear implantation in Bogotá, Colombia using a qualitative approach. The main research objective was to identify how parents perceived the processes of diagnosis of their child's hearing loss, making the decision for cochlear implantation and the post-surgery period. All participants were hearing couples (n = 13) with similar socio-cultural backgrounds whose children had undergone cochlear implant surgery. Results show why cochlear implants are a very highly valued technological device with great symbolic power for parents. The study also deals with how perceptions about oral/sign language and disability, as well as social expectations for their children's lifetime opportunities, determine how the parents themselves have experienced their journey through the process of their children's cochlear implantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article charts the emergence of the sociology of disability and examines the areas of contestation. These have involved a series of erasures and absences - the removal of the body from debates on the social model of disability; the disappearance of the Other from educational policies and practices; and the absence of academics from political discourses and action. The paper considers the contribution of the sociology of disability to inclusive education and examines some of the objections currently being voiced. It ends with some reflections on the possibilities for academics within the sociology of disability to pursue alternative forms of engagement and outlines a series of duties that they might undertake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a broad constellation of clinical syndromes in which the most prominent initial and ongoing symptom is deterioration in spoken or receptive language processing, reading, writing, or semantic knowledge. Despite the core language impairments, people with these disorders are likely to be under-referred for speech pathology services (Taylor, Kingma, Croot, & Nickels, 2009 this issue), and there is limited published research on speech pathology interventions in these disorders. Aims: This paper reviews the published impairment- and activity/participation-directed interventions in semantic dementia and progressive aphasia to determine the current evidence base for clinical decisions about client suitability and selection of treatment goals, methods, and measures. We also identify questions that need to be addressed in future therapy research. Methods & Procedures: We reviewed 15 reports of impairment-directed behavioural, pharmacological, and repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation treatments that implemented some level of experimental control. We reviewed a further 10 reports of interventions generally carried out without experimental control, targeting impairments, activity/participation limitations, education, carer training, or a mixture of these approaches. Outcomes & Results: In the impairment-directed studies almost all participants showed improvement on treated items immediately post-treatment. Improvement was specific to treated items in most word retrieval studies, but there is a possibility that greater generalisation to other items or other language tasks/contexts may have occurred in treatments not targeting naming, and/or for clients with articulatory impairments. Without ongoing practice of therapy activities, treatment gains declined for all participants over a period varying from 2 months to between 6 months and 1 year. There was only one experimentally controlled activity/participation-directed intervention reported for people with progressive language impairments, although other reports of activity/participation-directed interventions described increased communicativeness and communication effectiveness for participants following intervention. Consistent with the aims of activity/participation-interventions, these interventions appear to have a greater impact on everyday communication outside the clinic than impairment-directed interventions, but these impacts need to be investigated and documented. Conclusions: These studies highlight the need for rigorous research design to identify treatment, generalisation, and maintenance effects (Rapp & Glucroft, 2009 this issue), and to identify outcomes that go beyond improvement in the clinic on targeted words, language structures, and behaviours. It is important to tailor interventions closely to individual client needs, involve the spouse/carer in intervention, and ensure that clients have appropriate expectations about therapy. The patterns of therapy gain, limited generalisation, and decline following cessation of therapy activities in impairment-directed studies raise questions about the learning mechanism(s) involved. They also have implications for client suitability, and for choice of therapy items, and therapy delivery and duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on how the National Employment Office in Sweden creates the disabled person by recruiting them to work-for-the-disabled programs. As a rule, job applicants who are classified as “disabled” do not consider themselves as such, but they are encouraged to become disabled by adopting the organization's norms, rules and routines, which specify what is expected of them as disabled if they are to be assisted to find a job. Disability is, in other words, a learned social role enacted in a particular organizational context. It is argued that the full implications of a radical constructionist approach to the problem of disability have not yet been tapped in the standard sociological conversation on disability. The potential of society to formally enact anyone as disabled, irrespective of his or her medical and biological condition, raises a number of important social and political questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Normalization and social role valorization continue to play a central role in shaping debates and practice relating to learning difficulties. In the context of recent arguments this paper draws on the work of Foucault to deconstruct these theories. Foucault's work alerts us to a conceptual confusion at their heart which reproduces a common but problematic individual-society dualism. There is an implicit, and problematic, presence in the theories of a pre-social individual conceived as having essential impairments and who is passive in the face of negative socialization. We propose that Foucault's 'ethical' domain of inquiry, with its concern for how people actively understand themselves and govern their conduct in relation to specific values and a 'truth' that they are obliged to recognize in themselves, provides the basis for returning the individual-as-subject to theories in an active, critical manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goodley & Lawthom discussed the role of a community psychology approach in conducting emancipatory disability research. While their aims are entirely laudable, they portrayed mainstream psychology as 'pathologising, voyeuristic, individualising, [and] impairment-obsessed'. This paper presents a reply to Goodley and Lawthom's somewhat outdated arguments for the dismissal of mainstream psychology and argues that the focus on a single 'best' method of researching disability does not serve the best interests of disabled people within society. It is argued that to create a 'new' psychology distinct from the 'mainstream' is unnecessary, undesirable and counter-productive. Mainstream psychology has much to offer disabled people and to dismiss it is to throw the baby out with the bathwater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order for the sociological study of disability to enable, then it must be ready to conceptualize complex terrains of knowledge and activism. Research has to work alongside disabled people, their allies, their practices, their resistances and their theorizing. This paper makes a case for a framework of understanding that situates such work. Disability studies tends to understand its concepts (e.g. disability, exclusion, inclusion, impairment, politicization, people) as entities rooted in arborescent and hierarchical forms of knowledge. These modernist misconceptions can be challenged through understanding knowledge, practice, living and activism as rhizomatic, captured as lines of flight which are always becoming. As a new reader of Deleuze and Guattari, I make a case for disability research understanding parents and their disabled children as deconstructing or (re)deterritorializing the areas of policy, politics, practice, theory and activism. Creating burrows for shelter and eventual breakout, becoming 'angel makers', drawing on narratives of parents of disabled babies, this paper maps out a vision of parents not blocked by the strata of disabling society, but enabled by lines of flight, resistance, flux and change. This paper aims to be Deleuzoguattarian but only in ways that fit the complexities of parents' accounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon the work of Hughes and Patterson, this paper addresses the issue of whether a socially constructed conception of pain is possible or desirable. Contrary to a number of postmodern inspired conceptions that pain exists exclusively at the level of discourse and linguistic construction, pain is viewed as a material barrier that exists beyond the politico-aesthetic level. The body is much more than a canvas upon which we can create appropriate discursive formation to incorporate within our preferred conception of 'self'. To recognize the existence of biologically based realities is not to accept biological dysfunction as the sole cause of disability or any other form of reactionary politics of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although non-communicable and chronic disease now accounts for 47% of the global burden of disease, little is known of the everyday experiences and social aspects of disability and disablement in middle and low income countries. This article aims to address this gap by exploring the subjective experience of mobility impairment in Malaysia. Specifically, it examines health-related quality of life and the impact and distress related to impaired mobility, and investigates any gender differences in relation to the experience of disability. Methods: The data were collected as part of an interdisciplinary, multi-country study known as RESILIENCE (Research into Social Inclusion, Locomotive Impairment and Empowerment through Networking, Collaboration and Education). Cluster sampling was used to administer the EQ-5D and the Perceived Impact of Problems Profile (PIPP) to 210 adults from Selangor state, west coast Peninsular Malaysia. Results: The participants consisted of 94 males and 116 females, aged between 18-90 years (mean 60 years), with the majority being Malay. The majority of participants were also married, from rural areas and had primary education only. Very few participants lived alone. In addition, males were more likely to attribute their impaired mobility to an accident. The majority of participants with mobility impairment experienced a moderate to high level of pain/discomfort (79%) and anxiety/depression (72%), and at least some problems with performing usual activities (71%), as measured by the EQ-5D. In addition, using the Perceived Impact of Problems Profile (PIPP), participants also reported high levels of impact and distress related to participation in community life. In general, males reported higher impact and distress across several items, most significantly in regard to participation in community activities, moving around the neighbourhood, ability to live independently, and ability to assist their family members. Conclusion: This paper provides preliminary data regarding the health-related quality of life among Malaysians with impaired mobility, and highlights the multifaceted impact of disability and the importance of acknowledging the diverse cultural contexts in which disability can occur. It also raises questions regarding gender differences in the subjective experience of disability in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Born‐deaf, sign‐language‐using people have for the past two centuries been placed within a succession of externally constructed models, notably the traditional “medical” or pathological model. This perceives them primarily as biologically deficient beings in need of cures or charity in order to be successfully assimilated into society. This paper proposes that the concept of colonialism is the one that most appropriately describes the “existential” reality of deaf communities, and offers instead a deaf‐constructed model. Utilizing recent confirmation of the existence of bona‐fide feaf cultures, it highlights the extent to which these communities have resisted such models, maintaining their own beliefs concerning their validity and quality of their existence, and what they offer to non‐deaf societies. This “vulnerability as strength” is manifested through the concept of deafhood, which is presented as the first move towards a formal narrative of decolonizing and liberatory possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Social Model of Disability holds that persons are impaired for a number of reasons, but that it is only by society that they are disabled. As a product of that disabling society and a key component in psychocultural representation, it is terminology on which the paper focuses. Consisting of ableism, disablement and impairment, a tripartite typology is proposed, the first phase of which is rendered outmoded, the second regressive and the third progressive. This hierarchical categorisation provides a basis for the suggestion that terminology like blindness and the blind might be rejected in favour of that which denotes only visual impairment, the progressive terminology that corresponds with insights gained from the Social Model of Disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates mathematical skills in Prader–Willi Syndrome (PWS), a pathological condition because of congenital alterations of chromosome pair 15. The following questions were addressed: (1) Are mathematical skills in PWS relatively more impaired with respect to other cognitive functions (as has been repeatedly but anecdotally reported)?; and (2) What is the nature of the mathematical impairment?The first study employed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and an extensive battery of cognitive tasks for which norms are known. Both batteries include a mathematical section. The second study used a theoretically motivated series of mathematical tasks specifically designed to individually assess the different cognitive components underlying mathematical skills.Mathematical skills were found to be the most impaired cognitive abilities together with short-term memory capacity. No specific mathematical domain was seen to be unaffected in PWS participants. The clearest deficits observed concern‘syntactic’ processes in number transcoding, multiplication, number facts retrieval and calculation procedures.Failure of mathematical skills is the most distinctive feature in the cognitive profile of PWS. However, to determine whether this is indeed a specific pattern of performance related to PWS, results must be compared with those obtained with patients manifesting other genetic disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) accounts for approximately 80% of all brain injuries, and persistent sequelae can impede physical, emotional, social, marital, vocational, and avocational functioning. Evaluation of impairment and disability following MTBI typically can involve such contexts as social security disability application, personal injury litigation, worker's compensation claims, disability insurance policy application, other health care insurance policy coverage issues, and the determination of vocational and occupational competencies and limitations. MTBI is still poorly understood and impairment and disability assessment in MTBI can present a significant diagnostic challenge. There are currently no ideal systems for rating impairment and disability for MTBI residua. As a result, medicolegal examiners and clinicians must necessarily familiarise themselves with the variety of disability and impairment evaluation protocols and understand their limitations. The current paper reviews recommended procedures and potential obstacles and confounding issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thıs paper examines the representatıon of dısabılıty that ıs generated by, and supports, "people-fırst language." The paper first describes the ubıquitous formulation of disabled people as "just people." Second, the current ıdeology that stresses that disabled people are simply "people wıth dısabılitıes" ıs examıned ın one of its concrete manıfestations: a recent government document entıtled In Unıson: A Canadıan Approach to Disabılıty Issues By making use of Dorothy Smıth's concept that language ıs socıal organization, the author shows how dısabılıty is organızed ın this document as a medıcalızed and ındivıdual matter and, as such, takes shape as abnormal limıtatıon and lack of functıon that some people-four mıllıon Canadıans-"just happen to have." Finally, the paper concludes that people-first language is best understood as part of an ongoıng process that removes the possıbility of understandıng disabılity as a socıal, and thereby complex, polıtıcal phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical researchers enter into an investigation with their assumptions on the table, so no one is confused concerning the epistemological and political baggage they bring with them to the research site (Kincheloe & McLaren, 1998, p. 265). A theory of disability as oppression … recognises and, in the present context, emphasies the social origins of impairment. (Abberley, 1987, in Barton and Oliver, 1997, p176, my emphasis.) Identification with the label of 'learning difficulties' has contradictory personal and political implications for people so-labelled. While this identification has allowed people to organise collectively through the self-advocacy movement, pervasive understandings of 'learning difficulties' that permeate many societal settings tend to be framed in ways that directly confirm a personal tragedy model of disability and impairment. This paper argues for a reconsideration of impairment in relation to 'learning difficulties', to challenge pervasive assumptions in relation to 'learning difficulties' - at the level of epistemology - and to construct four inclusive epistemological foundations. The first, deconstructing impairment, draws upon a body of literature that has exposed the social nature of diagnostic criteria and destabilised naturalised notions of 'learning difficulties'. The second, impairment, as storied, brings in the accounts of people with 'learning difficulties' that locate impairment in, and as, personal and social narratives. Thirdly, reculturising impairment highlights emergent resilient cultures of people with 'learning difficulties' that re-culturise impairment. Fourthly, epistemological impacts, grounds the analysis by calling for an attention to the ways in which assumptions about the origins of 'learning difficulties' impact upon the treatment of people so-labelled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying a social constructionist perspective, this paper explores the shared characteristics of American constructions of race, sex, sexual orientation, and disability. The discussion considers how each of these statuses is constructed through social processes in which categories of people are (1) named, (2) aggregated and disaggregated, (3) dichotomized and stigmatized, and (4) denied the attributes valued in the culture. The apparent utility of the social constructionist perspective - and its dominance in American sociology - is contrasted with its infrequent application to the study of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there such a thing as a social conception of disability? Recently two writers in this journal have suggested not only that there is a coherent social conception of disability but that all non-social conceptions, or "medical models" of disability are fatally flawed. One serious and worrying dimension of their claims is that once the social dimensions of disability have been resolved no seriously "disabling" features remain. This paper examines and rejects conceptions of disability based on social factors but notes that physical and mental conditions which disadvantage the individual have social dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the field of disability studies there has been a concentration upon the representation of disabled people's experiences within a social context. However, research into non-disabled people's perspectives on disability and impairment has traditionally been based upon a psychologically-driven individualist model of disability which sees disabled people uncritically as 'the problem'. In this apparent epistemological divide, little work has been done on the exploration of non-disabled people's perspectives from a social model angle. This paper outlines a current study of the formation of such perspectives, and specifically explores the methodological conditioners of such an enquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sociology of disablement needs to redefine the meaning of independence. In Western industrial societies, independence is associated with being able to do things for oneself, to be self-supporting and self-reliant. The paper attempts to show that some of our understanding of independence is influenced by views of the subject and personal autonomy stemming from the Enlightenment philosophy. The main target of the paper is to show that the modernist view of the subject is inadequate. What is missing is the notion of interdependence. The paper suggests an understanding of the subject that recognises the human condition as one of interdependence. It is argued that a reformulation of the subject as both embedded and embodied, bears better to a sociology of disablement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a wider study of community care arrangements for visually impaired people in England and Wales, this paper explores the implementation of contractual arrangements as part of the developing formalization of partnerships between local authority social services departments and voluntary organizations. It argues the importance of conceiving contract management as a complex set of social processes involving a diversity of interests and inequalities of power, where skills in negotiation are central to promoting greater participation in community care policy and practice. It concludes with a brief discussion of the relevance of social work to the implementation of this key area of contemporary community care arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]