disability studies

• what is disability studies about?


  difference and ways social, cultural, and moral constructions can create stigmatizing perceptions of loss and difficulty
• Primary impairment categories


  sensory, physical, learning, cognitive
• why disability studies has grown?

  relates on societal patterns, builds on civil rights movement, big cultural shifts, changing legal policies
• individual model 


  individual/personal problem, medical solutions, 'person-fixing' model, DP's need care, master status of identity
• societal model


  societal problem, burden on society to change, 'society fixing' model, changes in rights and policies, support voice, choice, inclusion, in decision process
• disability 


  diagnosed problem, bodily difference, reduces/inhibits standard function
• the World Health Organization

  ICIDH, ICF, ICD
• Impairment 


  loss or abnormality of physical ability, refer to loss, inability of body
• handicap


  cumulative disadvantage because society is not designed to provide access
• structural impairments


  limitations of internal or external body, ex. spinal cord injury
• functional impairments


  complete or partial restriction of a body, ex. tightening of joints
• 3 principles to disability

  impairment, activity limitation, participation restriction (cannot exist independently)
• people with a disability


  seeing them as people first, popular in mainstream, common in people who discuss 'words that hurt'
• disabled people


  people in community describe themselves, disabled as important part of identity, disabled by world around us
• Cochlear Implants Operation 


  electronics placed on small part of skull, electrode carries signals to inner ear, some sense of sounds, not full auditory
• cochlear implants background


  first implant by W. House 1961, CI's common in 1980s, 1990 CI's approved for 2-18
• deaf culture traits


  signing as first language, shared values from deaf schools, etiquette from deaf schools
• history of deafness


  essential for children to learn a first language young, monks developed universal signs, AM Bell invented physiological phonetics
• Deaf 


  medically deaf when they have little to no hearing and depends on visual communication
• 3 Approaches to Deafness

  Deaf as pathology (IM), Deafness as sociological phenomenon (SM), Deafness as cultural group
• Individualization 


  blaming the individual and putting all the burden of change on them
• Pathologization 


  when a human difference gets turned into a 'problem' in our perception
• medicalization 


  turned into a medical problem with negative judgements, not the same as 'medicine'.
• ADHD


  Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, neurological disorder, impulsivity, hyperactivity, inattention, can persist over time
• issues that lead to inaccurate diagnosis

  early stages for research, cognitive bias of testers, pressure on schools for standardized testing, larger class sizes
• comorbity 


  2 or more chronic diseases
• The moral model perspective 


  people view disability through societal or personal moral values, ex. people with ADHD judged because symptoms are similar to 'bad behaviour'
• Alternatives to societal model

  capacity based (what a person can do), gift based (unique gifts on how someone experiences world), adaptive (how label's symptoms are an adaptive response to environmental conditions)
• Underserving of pity 


  intoxicated, 'immoral' behaviours, those 'not working hard enough'
• critiquing charity model


  universalizes experiences of disability as negative, disabled people as completely dependent, pressure for disabled people to never get mad
• inspirational porn 


  people using disabled people as inspiration
• inclusion 


  used to deal with types of differences, action plans to create spaces for all
• exclusion 


  alienated and distance from society, preventing someone from participating in social relations
• 3 forms of inclusion 


  mainstream inclusion, specialized inclusion, reverse inclusion
• Mainstream Inclusion 


  most popular form, making existing programs/spaces accessible to all, ex. YMCA camps, camps for all children
• Specialized Inclusion 


  historically dominant, segregate them from society, ex. how can sports be accessible when physical ability is main component?
• Reverse Inclusion 


  creating spaces designed to be fully inclusive, aim to reduce to stigma of disabled people, ex. wheelchair basketball, created for people with disabilities
• Paralympics 


  Ludwig Guttman created due to spinal cord injury, 1992 Barcelona venue made accessible, 2000 Olympics Spain caught lying
• Paralympic Classification System


  groups athletes with similar limitations regardless of diagnosis, 52 sport classes, person-fixing model, professional grouping them together
• Special olympic method 


  'divnisioning', must have intellectual or cognitive impairment, athletes can move up and down division, society-fixing model, groups can be adjusted