Social, Cultural and Disability Awareness
(HDRS)
Convenor: Professor P.N. Walsh
and
Models and Philosophies (HDDDS)
Convenor: Dr. John Hillery
Disability Studies and Models of Disability:
An introduction
17 September 2004
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This seminar
• Introduction to disability studies
• Models of disability
• Medical
• Social
• Universal
• Other models: • Content and objectives of this module
• Briefing on assignment due 13 December 2004
• Guidelines for good practice
– Recommended reading, references, citations
• Discussion
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From: Handbook of Disability Studies
(Albrecht et al., 2001)
• Disability is both a private and public experience
• Disability studies is an emergent field with
intellectual roots in the social sciences, humanities
and rehabilitation sciences.
• Multiple perspectives include: disabled people,
academic audience and those interested in forming
social welfare policies (p. 2).
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Defining disability
• …an enigma that we experience but do not
necessarily understand (Albrecht et al., 2001)
• (it is)...directly tied to the moral principles of western
cultures (Stiker, 1997)
• …not simply an attribute of a person but a complex
collection of conditions, activities and relationships,
many of which are created by the social environment
(Bickenbach et al., 1999)
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Models: 1- Medical
• Presumed biological reality of impairment =
starting point
• Functional limitations that person has = focus
for rehabilitation, other interventions
• Recent medical approaches adopt wider,
multidimensional perspectives
– Williams, 2001: Theorizing Disablity (In: Albrecht et al., 2001)
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2 - Social Models of Disability
• Individual experiences - Helen Keller, others
• Social constructivist view of knowledge
• Development of social model of disability: See
work of Linton, Oliver, Davis, inter alia.
• Handicaps as…social disadvantages that
arise from the social reception of impairments
and disabilities...(Bickenbach, 1993).
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3 - Universalism: Bickenbach et al., 1999
• Disablement understood as an identifiable
variation of human functioning with 3
dimensions:
– Impairments
– Activity limitations
– Participation restrictions
• ICIDH-2 - development and status
• Criticisms from disability constituency
• Which models generate valuable research?
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4 - Emerging Models?
• Models reflect intellectual thinking of a
time and place
• Evolution likely to continue
• Be critical: assumptions, sources,
implications and testing power
• Today – human rights model
• endorsed by EU - (see: Quinn & Bruce, 2003)
• Current debates about UN Convention
– cross-cutting issues
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The risk of poverty
Well-established link between poverty and the prevalence of
(mild/moderate) ID
Higher prevalence of severe ID among some minority ethnic
communities who are more likely to experience poverty
Bringing up a child with severe disabilities is likely to have an
impact on a family’s entry into and escape from poverty
* Emerson, 2004
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Poverty & Intellectual Disability
(in the World’s Richer Countries)
Eric Emerson
Institute for Health Research
Lancaster University, UK
eric.emerson@lancaster.ac.uk
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The Impact of Poverty on Health &
Development
• Mortality
– Infant & childhood
– CHD
• Health & disability
(including mental health)
• Family functioning
• Cognitive & linguistic
development
• Academic attainment
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Poverty …
• ‘Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of
choices and opportunities, a violation of
human dignity. It means lack of basic
capacity to participate effectively in
society.’
- UN Economic & Social Council (1998)
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Child Poverty in Rich Countries
(Slide from: Emerson 2004)
Poverty Defined:
Living in household
with less than 50% of
national median
household income
(before housing costs)
Norway
France
Japan
Canada
Source: Unicef (2000). A
League Table of Child
Poverty in Rich Nations.
Florence: Unicef
UK
USA
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
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25%
Institutional history of disability
(Braddock & Parish, 2001)
•
•
•
•
impairment and disability
changing perceptions of poverty
intellectual disability and mental illness
Institutions emerge: Bethlem Hospital, UK (1403),
San Hipólito, Mexico City (1566)
• 19th century • Residences
• Training schools
• Deaf community
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Institutional history of disability:
the 20th century
(Braddock & Parish, 2001)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Institutional model expands
Social model
Beginnings of deinstitutionalization
Political activism - right to treatment
Self-advocacy
International disability rights initiatives
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Institutional history of disability:
an Irish perspective
(from: McCormack, 2004: In: Walsh & Gash, eds.)
• The Dublin House of Industry in North
Brunswick Street was a typical catch-all
institution, a one-stop solution to every
social problem: a place for beggars, for
the ill, the disabled, the destitute and the
troublesome (chapter 2).
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Intellectual disabilities - USA history
• For a very useful and
stimulating history of
mental retardation
(intellectual disability) in
the United States, see:
• Trent, J.W., 1994.
Inventing the Feeble
Mind. Berkeley:
University of California
Press.
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Some cross-cutting issues
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
human development
children’s rights
human rights
health
ageing
justice
poverty
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Good Practice Guidelines
• Ethical issues
• Theoretical framework
• Lived experience
• History - Philosophy - other disciplines for analysis
• Interventions
• Evidence
• References - Harvard system
• Participation in the courses
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Content and objectives
Social, Cultural and Disability Awareness (HDRS)
This module introduces students to the emerging field of disability studies – the
scholarly exploration of all aspects of disability, including the lived experience of
disability, the history of disability and the various political, practical, social and
economic interventions provided on behalf of persons with disabilities. The
structure of the module is devised to place the accounts of experiencing disability
presented by invited speakers with specialist knowledge within this conceptual
framework. Current models of disability will be presented for critical review.
Students are encouraged to integrate their classroom learning with applications
in their workplaces with reference to evidence drawn from published literature.
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Recommended reading
• Albrecht, G. Seelman, K. & Bury, M. (2001). Handbook of
Disability Studies. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.
– Available in library
• Quin, S. & Redmond, B. (2003). Disability and Social Policy in
Ireland. Dublin: UCD Press.
– Available in library - copies ordered for campus bookstore.
• Walsh, PN & Gash, H (eds.) (2004). Lives and Times: Practice,
Policy and People with Disability. Dublin: Ravenwell. This
book comprises 16 chapters citing published evidence,
key policies and examples of good practice related to
supports for people with intellectual disabilities across
the lifespan.
– Copies ordered for campus bookstore
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Additional reading
• Berkson, G. (2004). Intellectual and physical
disabilities in prehistory and early civilization. Mental
Retardation 42, 195-208.
– Copy of this article is available in CDS
• Ingstad, B. & Whyte, S.R. (1995). Disability and
Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.
– Copy of this book available in CDS
• Walsh, PN & LeRoy, B. (2004). Women with Disabilities Aging
Well: A global view (Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes)
– Copies ordered for campus bookstore
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