Chapter 12 Flashcards
Describe DISABILITY
DISABILITY, is a CONDITION that LIMITS a person’s ABILITY to PARTICIPATE in certain ACTIVITIES.
Can be mental or physical, permanent or temporary. Using this definition, in 2006 14.3 percent of the Canadian population have a disability.
The overall rate is expected to INCREASE over the next years, as BABY BOOMERS AGE, because older people report a higher rate of disability than younger people.
Describe OPERATIONAL DEFINITION
Defining an ABSTRACT QUALITY so it can be QUANTIFIED for stats. Finding an appropriate operational definition that works to define disability is difficult…
Describe IRVING K. ZOLA
IRVING K. ZOLA is the “father” of the sociology of disability.
Zola was an activist for disability rights and did research and wrote on disability issues. His best-known work is arguably “Missing Pieces: A Chronicle of Living with a Disability (1982”), an INSTITUTIONAL ETHNOGRAPHY he wrote based on his week-long PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION study in which he reported the lives of 400 institutionalized people in Het Dorp, where most had a disability. He also advocated STANDPOINT THEORY.
Describe INSTITUTIONAL ETHNOGRAPHY
Ethnography that CHALLENGES NEUTRAL POSITION taking in sociological research and asserts that INSTITUTIONS have 2 SIDES:
- 1 represents RULING INTERESTS of the institution;s organizers
- The other represents the institution’s WORKERS’ interests.
Describe 3 models of disability
Three models of disability used to represent and/or understand disability are:
MEDICAL models, (positivist)
ECONOMIC models, (assets / liabilities)
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST models.
Describe MEDICAL Models
MEDICAL models are directed by MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS. They ARE POSITIVIST models,
meaning IT TAKES EXPERTS, to HELP DISABLED PEOPLE (by using SCIENCE).
This model is CRITICIZED for IGNORING PATIENT’s voices and INSIGHTS. This makes research absolutist and jeopardizes results.
Describe ECONOMIC Models
ECONOMIC models think DISABLED PEOPLE are economic ASSETS or LIABILITIES.
A SYMPATHETIC thinks DISABLED PEOPLE CAN meaningfully CONTRIBUTE to the ECONOMY by MAXIMIZING their SKILLS. Training and employment programs for people with disabilities, as well as organizations that fight for accessibility in the workplace. i.e. MCJOB program.
Zola: Bad because it makes disabled people yearn for Unrealistic American Dream.
Some UNSYMPATHETIC economic models are TAINTED by PATERNALISM , thinking the PRODUCTIVITY of DISABLED PEOPLE as extremely LIMITED.
This sets up people with disabilities who are not able to “overcome” their limitations as failures and not deserving respect.
Describe EUGENICS MOVEMENT
Other economic models view DISABLED PEOPLE as a DRAIN on the PUBLIC PURSE.
The EUGENICS MOVEMENT believed that INTELLIGENCE can be EASILY MEASURED and INHERITED DIRECTLY in between generations. The ECONOMIC premise of the eugenics movement was that
“FEEBLE-MINDED” PEOPLE NEEDED GOVERNMENT-provided care or FUNDING, so it MADE fiscal SENSE to STERILIZE anyone who is in danger of producing “feeble-minded” offspring.
Describe SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST Models
CRITICAL DISABILITY THEORY
Natural Impairment vs. Disability
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST models of disability believe that SOCIAL CATEGORIES are ARTIFICIAL ABSTRACTIONS (e.g., “race,” gender, sexual orientation, etc).
CRITICAL DISABILITY THEORY argues that there is a DISTINCTION between NATURAL IMPAIRMENT (you are BORN INTO IT) and
DISABILITY (when SOCIAL BARRIERS prevent full accessibility to people with that impairment).
Critical disability theorists fight for FULL INCLUSION of people with disabilities in ALL LIFE ASPECTS.
ACCOUNTABILITY is SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY and the FOCUS is
CRITICAL DISABILITY THEORY
promoting SUBSTANTIVE EQUALITY (making sure mods are present so disabled people do not experience barriers) instead of
NOT FORMAL EQUALITY (everyone must face the same circumstances).
Describe NORA GROCE’s
Cultural Perceptions of Disabilities
CAUSALITY
VALUED and DEValued ATTRIBUTES
ANTICIPATED ADULT STATUS
Medical anthropologist NORA GROCE finds that how DISABILITY is INTERPRETED very DIFFERENTLY cross-culturally. There are three main areas of in which cultures differ in their views of disability:
CAUSALITY are CULTURAL reasons (e.g. caused by the devil, vengeful god, or blessed);
VALUED and DEValued ATTRIBUTES depend on whether SOCIETY finds them IMPORTANT(e.g., whether physical or intellectual characteristics are more valued); and
ANTICIPATED ADULT STATUS (e.g., the roles people are expected to participate in society like families and jobs).
Describe the relationship between LABELLING THEORY (Howard Becker) and MASTER STATUS (E. C. Hughes)
LABELLING THEORY demonstrates that people who are labelled as “disabled” by others can come to have that label as a master status, even when they do not consider themselves disabled.
We can avoid making a person’s disability into their master status by treating them just like a normal individual.
Describe DEAF CULTURE
Deaf refers to a SOCIAL COMMUNITY of Deaf people
deaf is the physical condition of being deaf.
Border crossers = HONOURARY MEMBERS
While it is not normally appropriate to use adjectives to describe a disabled person, an exception is Deaf cultures.
Deafness refers to cultural membership;
short case “deaf”ness to the physical condition of being deaf.
Social institutions that HOST the development of Deaf culture are MOSTLY EDUCATIONAL institutions.
Border crossers are called HONOURARY MEMBERS instead.
Describe BLIND CULTURE
Blindness is a CULTURAL TRAIT
BORDER CROSSERS term used
Although there is NOT WELL-DEFINED BLIND CULTURE like Deaf culture, people consider BLINDNESS a CULTURAL TRAIT, not disability. Like Deaf culture, a major goal is to re-interpret what being blind means in mainstream culture.
EDUCATION is a KEY FACTOR in the re-interpretation of blindness for sighted people with the goals of full acceptance of difference.
Henry Giroux: BORDER CROSSERS are SYMPATHETIC to a stigmatized group but NOT PART of it. They SPEAK ABOUT the group and do NOT REPRESENT them.
Describe TOKENISM
TOKENISM in this context is when people are INCLUDED in something BECAUSE of their DISABILITY STATUS, not in spite of it or to appear as if they do not regard it.
ie. get a trophy because you are crippled, to because you are good at a sport.
INTERSECTIONALITY THEORY
INTERSECTIONALITY THEORY considers that the combination of disability with other social characteristics such as gender or “race” can have a cumulative impact regarding the oppression experienced by people. Educated women with disabilities have a more difficult time finding good work than men with disabilities. Two hypotheses could demonstrate the multiple oppression women with disabilities may experience.
First, Zola hypothesized that DISABLED WOMEN are LESS LIKELY than men with disabilities to ESTABLISH a LONG-LASTING RELATIONSHIP with a person without a disability, because it is easier for men to find a caring spouse.
Second, Zola hypothesized that CONDITIONS that WOMEN EXPERIENCE (e.g., fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue) are NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY by the MEDICS (mainly male doctors).
With regard to “race” and disability, (Ojibwa) writer BASIL JOHNSON compares the OPPRESSION and discrimination experienced by ABORIGINAL people WITH DISABILITIES (MENTAL disabilities).
