A Sociocultural Model of
Impairment Disability©
DEVVA KASNITZ AND RUSSELL SHUTTLEWORTH
University of California, Berkeley
December, 2003
Shuttleruss@msn.com * Devva@earthlink.net
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Goals of this Project
◄ to create a model of impairment-disability
committed to the inherent value of human
difference, and of equal access to social, cultural
and material goods
◄ to create a model that enables us to recognize,
map, and analyze disability oppression in diverse
cultures
◄ to develop our model incorporating sociopolitical,
cultural, ecological, and existentialphenomenological theories of impairmentdisability
◄ to create a processual, temporal, spatial, and
contextual model of impairment-disability
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Impairment
Disability
Why the hyphen?
◄to problematize anthropologists’ prior use of
these terms
◄to highlight the processual nature of the
relationship between these and other terms in
our model
◄to stress the need for analytical specificity
within this process
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Review and Critique of
Models and Theories of
Impairment-Disability
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SOCIOPOLITICAL DISABILITY MODELS
Independent Living Model (De Jong)
◄ states that current sociopolitical structures produce access barriers for
and dependency in impaired people resulting in disability
◄ is based on a consumer driven movement that fosters autonomy, self-help
and the removal of societal barriers and disincentives
Minority Group Model (Hahn)
◄ describes how current sociopolitical structures produce access barriers for
and discrimination against impaired people resulting in disability
◄ is motivated by a political and research strategy used to counter
discrimination and advocate for civil rights
British Social Model (Oliver)
◄ sees the historical convergence of industrialization and capitalism as
restricting impaired people’s access to material and social goods, which
results in their economic dependency and creates the category of disability
◄ is motivated by a political and research strategy used to combat
socioeconomic oppression and to transform the material structures that
marginalize and devalue the capabilities of impaired people
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Theories of Impairment
Disability
Postmodern Theory
◄ Scott-Hill (Corker) and Shakespeare
• see disability as constructed via discursive practices
• add a discursive theory of communication to the
current materialistic focus on structure
• perceives disability identity as fluid and its
boundaries dependent on context and the dynamic
interaction of other self-identities
• emphasizes a dialogic relation between impairment
and disability (not an analytical privileging of one
over the other)
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THEORIES OF DISABILITY …continued
Phenomenological Theories
◄Hughes and Paterson
• sees disability as the embodiment of negative cultural
•
•
•
perceptions and attitudes
perceive impairment as socioculturally constructed
posit that the non-disabled structure of embodied contexts of
meaning creates disabled people’s social dys-appearance
advocate for a cultural-phenomenological restructuring of carnal
contexts of meaning along more inclusive lines
◄Shuttleworth
• posits that embodied sensitivities to certain social situations
•
reveal disability oppression
analyzes lived metaphors of embodiment (i.e blocked, trapped)
as felt remembrances of past disability oppression/empowerment
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THEORIES OF DISABILITY …continued
Ecological Contextual Community Based Theories
◄Seekins
• perceives impairment as situational and contextually constructed
• sees disability as a response to environmental systems and
•
pressures
advocates for community development strategies to restructure
disabling barriers to access and increased participation
◄Kasnitz
• analyzes systemic and situational ethno-embodiment
• perceives impairment as one culturally constructed resolution to
•
the tension of embodied anomaly
posits that disability and handicap are unique systemic
constructions of differential access throughout the life course
and in valued cultural domains
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Anthropology
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ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO
IMPAIRMENT
DISABILITY
Social Complexity Theory (Scheer and Gross)
◄ states that in modern complex societies visible impairments are commonly thought
to classify individual identities
◄ in small scale societies visible impairments are less important in classifying
individuals
Stigma Theory (Goffman)
◄ sees impairments as representing one kind of undesired difference from social
expectations that are discrediting (the stigmatization process)
◄ perceives disability as a sociocultural construction
Liminality Theory (Turner, Murphy, et. al.)
◄ looks at ritual process that separates and then reintegrates individuals into the social
fabric after a period of liminality (betwixt and between)
◄ sees disability as a social suspension, a liminal state frozen in time
Anomaly Theory (Douglas)
◄ looks at phenomena that fall in between cultural categories and create cultural
tension and dissonance
◄ is often used in conjunction with liminality theory to explain the marginality of
disabled people
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ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO
IMPAIRMENT
DISABILITY
Phenomenology (Frank)
◄ focuses on the disabled person’s body image
◄ concedes the “other” is “unknowable”
Personhood (Ingstad and Whyte)
◄ focuses on what the constituent features of personhood (valued
adult social statuses) are in a society
◄ asks, to what extent are disabled people accorded these features?
Disablement Process (Luborsky)
◄ sees disability as a process primarily defined by a loss of
personhood
Semiotics (Stiker)
◄ focuses on the degree of and types of integration-exclusion of
disabled people
◄ played out on several cultural levels: biological, social, medical,
ethical, religious, etc.
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CRITIQUE OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY AND
RESEARCH ON DISABILITY
Research on impairment
disability:
◄ is problematic because most studies have been conducted
in North America
◄ often focuses on single impairments with no attempts at
cross-impairment analysis within a society or between
societies
◄ is only beginning to develop taxonomies of what are
perceived to be impairments in different societies, and which
impairments are disabling and why
◄ does not provide ethnographic description of the full range of
human interactions occurring in valued and changing
contexts/domains of everyday life
◄ often overlooks important understudied impairment-disability
variables such as “hide-ability,” predictability, availability of
accommodations, social acceptability of disabilities, etc.
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CRITIQUE OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY AND
RESEARCH ON DISABILITY ….continued
Research on impairment-disability:
◄often over generalizes across the life-course
from the perspective of one age group to
others
◄is terminologically imprecise
◄is parochial and does not engage disability
studies literature
◄subscribes to a radical relativistic approach
and minimally analyzes relations of power
◄in general is undertheorized
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Sociocultural Model
of
Impairment
Disability
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Perceptual-Conceptual Layers
Posit Bio-Physics
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Perceptual-Conceptual Layers
Ethnoscience
Posit Bio-Physics
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Perceptual-Conceptual Layers
Ethno-Embodiment
Posit Bio-Physics
Ethnoscience
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Perceptual-Conceptual Layers
Ethno-Embodiment
Ethnoscience
Embodied
Anomaly
Posit Bio-Physics
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Experiential
Ethnoscience
Ethno-Embodiment
Embodied
Anomaly
Impairment
Posit Bio-Physics
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Experiential
Ethnoscience
Ethno-Embodiment
Embodied
Anomaly
Impairment
Disability
Posit Bio-Physics
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Experiential
Ethnoscience
Ethno-Embodiment
Embodied
Anomaly
Impairment
Disability
Handicap
Posit Bio-Physics
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability
Ethnoscience
Ethno-Embodiment
Embodied
Anomaly
Impairment
Impairment
Disability
Handicap
Posit Bio-Physics
Chronic Illness
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Embodied Political Layers
Ethnoscience
Ethno-Embodiment
Embodied Anomaly
Impairment
Handicap
Disability
Posit Bio-Physics
Chronic Illness
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Embodied Political Layers
Access Barriers
Participation
Barriers
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Embodied Political Layers
Ethnoscience
Ethno-Embodiment
Embodied Anomaly
Impairment
Handicap
Disability
Access Barriers
Posit Bio-Physics
Chronic Illness
25
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Ritual and Spiritual Life
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A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Exclusion
Ritual and Spiritual Life
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A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Exclusion
Denominational
Structured
Meaning
Form
Unstructured
Belief
Practice
Nondenominational
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A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Education and Training
Exclusion
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A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Education and Training
Exclusion
30
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Education and Training
Exclusion
Structured
Meaning
Formal
Form
Unstructured
Content
Format
Informal
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A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Exclusion
Education and Training
Family and Household Life
32
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Exclusion
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Education and Training
Family and Household Life
33
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Education and Training
Exclusion
Structured
Meaning
Family and Household Life
Form
Public
Unstructured
Orientation
Procreation
Intimate
34
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Exclusion
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Education and Training
Family and Household Life
Economic Activities
35
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Exclusion
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Education and Training
Family and Household Life
Economic Activities
36
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Education and Training
Family and Household Life
Exclusion
Economic Activities
Earning
Expectations
Reality
Assets
37
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Exclusion
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Education and Training
Family and Household Life
Economic Activities
Political Life
38
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Exclusion
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Education and Training
Family and Household Life
Economic Activities
Political Life
39
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Education and Training
Exclusion
Family and Household Life
Economic Activities
Political Life
Structured
Policy
Office
Unstructured
40
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Education and Training
Exclusion
Family and Household Life
Economic
EconomicActivities
Activities
Political Life
Sexuality
Communication
41
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Education and Training
Exclusion
Family and Household Life
Economic Activities
Political Life
Sexuality
Communication
Structured
Meaning
Form
Unstructured
42
A FIELDWORK MAP:
Access and Exclusion in Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Exclusion
Economic Activities
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Political Life
Sexuality:
Sexual Access
Communication:
Communication
Image
Education and Training
Family and Household Life
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A FIELDWORK MAP:
Mapping Embodied Access Exclusion
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Exclusion
Economic Activities
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Political Life
Sexuality
Communication
Education and Training
Family and Household Life
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A FIELDWORK MAP:
Sample Valued Cultural Domains
Access Barriers and
Experience of
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Education and Training
Exclusion
Family and Household Life
Economic Activities
Political Life
Sexuality
Communication
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Individual Approach
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Life Course Event History Model
Status or Role 4
Events
Transformation 3
Status or Role 3
Transformation 2
Status or Role 2
Transformation 1
Status or Role 1
Time
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Historical
Context
Participation Barrier Domains:
Ritual and Spiritual Life
Education and Training
Family and Household Life
Economic Activities
Political Life
Sexuality
Communication
◄b
Experience of
Disability
Access Participation Barriers
Impairment
Devva’s
Life Course
Trajectory
1950 Birth
1960 Adolescence 1970 Graduate School
1980-90 Career
2000 Aging
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Embodied Political Layers
◄Oppression
◄Discrimination
◄Segregation
Exclusionary Access Strategies
◄Exclusion
◄Marginalization
Access Participation Barriers
Inclusionary Access Strategies
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Cross-Cultural Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability:
The Structural-Instrumental
Ethno-Embodiment
Exclusionary Access Strategies
Embodied Anomaly
Access Barriers
Impairment
Ethnoscience
Disability
Handicap
Rules
Inclusionary Access Strategies
Posit Bio-Physics
Chronic Illness
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Sociocultural Model of Impairment-Disability in the USA
The Structural-Instrumental
Ethno-Embodiment
Exclusionary Access Strategies
Compensation
Embodied Anomaly
Access Barriers
Functional
Impairment
Disability
Handicap
Ethnoscience
Policy
Inclusionary Access Strategies
Accommodation
Posit Bio-Physics
Chronic Illness
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Closing
Devva on Fieldwork:
◄ Our Fieldwork Map could also be used in literature, history, and
even in technology.
◄ It provides concrete places to start data collection that can help
negotiate hidden and stated researcher bias without the
DISappearance of disability that occurs in a radical relativistic
approach or in a DISmodernism universalizing approach.
Russ on Epistemology and Theoretical
Development:
◄ In this working model we want to engage our colleagues in a true
interdisciplinary approach not constrained by different
epistemological validities.
◄ We want to celebrate the complexity of concepts of impairmentdisability because therein lie there staying power.
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