Disability and identity

Question 1

Some statistics about Disability and Identity.

Answer 1

There are 6-12 million disabled people in Britain, depending on the definition.

The general public still have a great deal of prejudice towards some disabled groups, e.g. the mentally ill or those with HIV (Social Attitudes Survey 2007).

Question 2

Theoretical Approaches to Disability and Identity.

There are two approaches. Name them.

Answer 2

Medical Model of Disability

Social Model of Disability

Question 3

What are the four key points of the Medical Model of Disability?

Answer 3

1. This view sees disability as a personal tragedy and the disabled deserve our pity.
2. Disabled are dependent on able-bodied and are unable to function without them.
3. The medical model labels disabled people as ‘inferior’ as it is deemed abnormal to be disabled and normalisation will only occur through a cure/round-the-clock care.
4. Best (2005): traditionally disability was seen in terms of a person’s ability to fully participate in activities that the rest take for granted, e.g washing ourselves, cleaning a floor, walking, driving etc.

Question 4

What are the four key points of the Social Model of Disability?

Answer 4

1. Since 1980’s the medical model began to change with the rise of the social model.
2. This view was developed by disabled people themselves and argued that biological disability was less important than social disability.
3. Oliver (1996): ‘It is society which disables physically impaired people” because the disabled are excluded from full participation in society through stereotypical attitudes held by able-bodied people.
4. Best ‘Society generates forms of discrimination and exclusion that disabled have to cope with. The problem is to be found in social constructions of prejudice that surrounds disability and

Question 5

For Structural Theories, Disability is a key source of what?

Answer 5

For structural theories, disability is a key source of social inequality and identity.

Question 6

What is the Marxist view on Disability?

Answer 6

It is difficult for disabled people to construct positive identities because they are often unable to work, particularly in high-status jobs, and so are not valued as highly in a capitalist society that values people entirely in terms of their wealth and employment.

Question 7

What is the Feminists view on Disability?

Answer 7

It is difficult for disabled women to construct positive identities because they are not viewed as sexually attractive, and are often unable to become mothers, the two main routes to status for women in a patriarchal society.

Question 8

What is the argument of Interactionists that is against Marxist and Feminists on the field of Disability?

Answer 8

Interactionists argue that Marxists and feminists view the disabled as passive. For instance, Goffman’s third strategy of becoming involved in identity politics suggests that disabled people are able to construct resistant identities.

Question 9

What is the Interactionists’ view on Disability?

Answer 9

Disability is a social construct: it is a label applied to a group of people who are defined by society in a particular way.

Question 10

What is Goffman’s argument as an Interactionist on Disability?

Answer 10

Goffman argued that disability is a stigmatised identity.

This happens through a number of mechanisms:
1. derogatory names
2. media images
3. differential medical treatment
4. barriers in employment
5. constructed dependency

This stigma is internalised, as disabled people come to see themselves as others see them, resulting in low self-esteem.

Question 11

Scott studied blind people in 1969 as in Interactionist. What was the result of this study?

Answer 11

Scott’s (1969) study into blind people in the US found that they internalise the experts’ view of themselves and so develop a ‘blind personality’. As part of this they developed learned helplessness: i.e. they learned that they should become reliant on sighted people.

Question 12

Interactionist view on Disability includes the Stigmatised Identities.

How do these create a problem and in what three ways can these be managed?

Answer 12

Stigmatised identities create a problem of stigma management for those who are given these labels

They can manage this in one of 3 ways:
1. try to hide the stigma (easier with less visible impairments)
2. admit the stigma try to relieve tension that arises in interactions
3. protest against the stigma (e.g. identity politics)

Question 13

What is the view of Postmodernism on Disability?

Answer 13

Disabled people are free to express themselves in many more ways than in the past due to new technology. e.g. able-bodied avatar of woman with MS on Second Life

Question 14

What is the argument that Structural Theorists have with Postmodernism’s view on Disability?

Answer 14

Structural theorists would argue that postmodernists fail to acknowledge the significant impact of structural inequalities on the identities of disabled people, for which new technology is unable to compensate

Question 15

Discuss disability as a social construct

Answer 15

Disability activists argue that most of the UK population have some form of impairment, such as wearing glasses, contact lenses or hearing aids.

However, people with these are not labelled as ‘disabled’ because society does not define these as a problem and therefore does not produce a social environment in which people who wear glasses are handicapped.

People who use wheelchairs are handicapped by society’s failure to provide a social environment in which they can be as mobile as able-bodied people.

Question 16

Discuss Disabled Identity and Independence

Answer 16

The concept of ‘independence’ being an aspect of normality is seen critically by sociologists in the disabled movement. The reason for this is that the negative social reaction of disabled people is because they are dependent and constantly in need of help. However, as Marsh & Keating (2006) no one is independent. “In modern societies, we are, of course, interdependent: we cannot manage to feed and clothe ourselves without relying on a vast network of other people and organisations”.

We are all dependent on technology, such as phones etc. However, Marsh and Keating (2006) ask why some social mobility aids, such as wheelchairs and white sticks, attract such a negative social reaction in comparison

Question 17

What is the view of Marxism on Disability and Capitalism?

Finkelstein 1980

Answer 17

Finkelstein (1980): Our negative cultural attitudes towards the disabled may be the product of capitalism’s emphasis on work as a source of identity, status and power.

Question 18

What is the view of Marxism on Disability and Capitalism?

Pre-industrial Society

Answer 18

The view that able-bodied and disabled people should be segregated and treated differently did not exist.

Question 19

What is the view of Marxism on Disability and Capitalism?

Industrialisation

Answer 19

Industrialisation was responsible for a dramatic shift in cultural attitudes because capitalist society required a fit and healthy workforce to generate profits for the capitalist class.

Disabled people became an economic burden for society and are defined as abnormal and as a social problem.

Question 20

What is Learned Helplessness in the concept of Disability and Capitalism?

Answer 20

Learned Helplessness - Watson (1998) notes that our stereotypical perceptions of disabled people about dependency and helplessness can affect how disabled people actually perceive themselves and their abilities. This is known as the ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ whereby disabled people begin to believe that they are helpless which then leads to low self-esteem and worth.

Question 21

What did Scott’ 1969 study on Learned Helplessness within Disability and Capitalism provide?

Name the study.

Answer 21

Scott (1969) Study on Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• Looked at interactions between medical professionals and blind people in USA.
• Scott argued that the blind developed a ‘blind personality’ because they internalised the experts’ view that they should be experiencing psychological problems in adjusting to their loss of sight.
• Part of this process involved ‘learned helplessness’, that is, that they should rely on sighted people for help.

Question 22

Longmore’s 1987 discussion on the Negative Representations of Disability and Identity provided what argument?

Answer 22

Longmore (1987): Disabled people are represented on TV as monsters, dependent on others, objects of pity etc. If the disabled are portrayed as courageous, it is often because it is contrasted with the tragedy of their situation. These stereotypes reinforce cultural stereotypes and consequently prejudice and discrimination.

Question 23

Cumberbatch and Negrine in 1992 wrote about Media representations of Disabled People. What did they find?

Answer 23

Cumberbatch and Negrine (1992): Media representations of the disabled rarely present them as “a person, and individual, who happens also to have a disability” – They tend to focus on disability rather than representing them as individuals who happen to have a disability.

Question 24

In 2012 Wood argued about disability and the media. What did he say?

Answer 24

Wood (2012): argues that the lack of disabled people employed in the media leads to no one challenging stereotypical views of the disabled. However, where they are, these stereotypes are more likely to be challenged. One example is on BBC’s ‘Eastenders’ where character Donna Yates is wheelchair-bound, but the scriptwriters do very little to focus on her disability and portray her in the same way as every other character.

Question 25

What do Media representations of Disability do for cultural stereotypes?

Answer 25

These media representations reinforce cultural stereotypes, which may in turn affect identities of the disabled.

However, this assumes that they are passive: in fact some disabled people resist media representations and cultural stereotypes

Question 26

What Positive Representations about Disability can you recall?

Answer 26

There have been recent changes in the representation of disabled people, through events such as the Paralympics in London 2012. This has led to a greater awareness and interest in these sports. In addition, some comedians have broken down the barriers and stereotypes regarding disabled people.

Question 27

Define Master Status

Answer 27

Master Status: A dominant label that over rides all other aspects of that person’s identity.

Question 28

Non-disabled people have multiple identities. Is this representative of disabled people?

Answer 28

We have multiple identities. However, for disabled people, who may not identify themselves through their disability/impairment, they may find difficulty in asserting this on others who have stereotypical views of their identity.

Disabled people may find it hard for people to see ‘the real me’, such as gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality because people have applied the ‘disabled’ label to them – this therefore has become a master status.

Question 29

Do disabled people find themselves segregated from…?

Answer 29

Disabled find themselves segregated from able-bodied society e.g special schools

Question 30

How can Prejudice be translated?

Answer 30

Prejudice maybe translated into discrimination as employers are reluctant to employ disabled people. This leads them to live a life on welfare benefits.

Question 31

What did Brown in 1994 state about the Prejudices against Disabled People?

Answer 31

Brown (1994): People with disabilities are seen as either ‘innocents or perverts’.

Question 32

Kallianes and Rubenfield in 1997 reported on the Prejudices agains Disabled Women. What did they find?

Answer 32

Kallianes & Rubenfeld (1997): women with disabilities are often discriminated against. It is assumed by professionals that such women should not be having sex and that they are likely to make unsuitable mothers. This has led to a number of disabled women being forcibly sterilised or have had their own children taken into care.

Question 33

What does a Social Model of Disability argue for?

Answer 33

Social model of disability argues that a more positive representation of disabled people should be promoted, focusing on independence, choice and autonomy for disabled people.

Question 34

How should the state invest to reduce the Prejudices against Disabled People?

Answer 34

The state should invest in a disabled-friendly social environment and should address prejudice and discrimination against the disabled.

Question 35

What is the development about Disabled People and definitions of Disability?

Answer 35

Disabled people are now more likely to resist definitions of disability that focus on dependency and helplessness.

Question 36

What did Antle’s 2004 study into Disability report?

Answer 36

Antle (2004) found that children with disabilities do not qualitatively differ in how they see disabilities compared to children without disabilities.

Question 37

Olney & Kim’s 2001 report about Disabled people and self-image provides what information?

Answer 37

Antle (2004) found that children with disabilities do not qualitatively differ in how they see disabilities compared to children without disabilities.

Question 38

What do critics of the Social Model of Disability note?

Four significant sections.

Answer 38

Critics of the social model of disability note that prejudice and discrimination need to be tackled and that the social environment which we live in is not always conducive to the disabled.

They also note that physical and biological factors, such as pain, can affect the experience of social life negatively.

Therefore the disabled identity is surrounded by physical and biological factors in addition to the limitations of a social environment shaped by negative and stereotypical attitudes towards disability.

However, societal expectations around the disabled are becoming less rigid and this is reflected in the way that media stereotypes are being challenged, and in the greater awareness of the ways a disabling society can restrict opportunities.