Being a person with disabilities or experiencing disability: Two perspectives on the social response to disability
Jerome Bickenbach, Sara Rubinelli, Gerold Stucki
Swiss Paraplegic Reseach, Guido A. Zäch Institute, 6207 Nottwil, Switzerland
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-2251
Lay Abstract
Disability has long been a controversial notion, even though everyone agrees that society has an obligation to provide for the needs of persons with disabilities, including rehabilitation services. Yet, historically, there have been two very different ways of understanding who is a ‘person with a disability’. There is first of all a very political, and advocacy oriented approach, coming mostly from the United States, in which people with disabilities are a minority group, historically socially disadvantaged, like African-Americans, women and LGBT individuals. Disability has also be widely understood, even by people who adopt the ‘minority group’ approach, as a universal feature of human beings: what happens when health conditions and impairments, in particular environments, make it difficult for people to go to work, school or participate in social activities. Here we look at the historical roots for both ‘disabilities’ and explore ways to reconcile the two perspectives.
Supplementary content
