Disability And Identity Flashcards
Define disability?give a few examples
•Disability is a physical or mental impairment that limits a person’s movements, senses, feelings or activities
•Examples include paraplegic (legs don’t work), blindness, schizophrenia and depression
Explain what the social model is?
The social model defines disability as a societal problem and focuses on social and physical barriers e.g design of building, discriminatory attitudes
It has led to view that disability is socially constructed and is deemed by what is ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’
Explain what the medical model is?
•The medical model sees disability as a physiological, biological problem and focuses on limitations caused by impairments
•This approach leads to defining disabled people by their disability or impairments
Explain why Tom Shakespeare think that there are major obstacles to forming a positive disabled identity?
•Tom Shakespeare argues there are major obstacles to forming a positive disabled identity as disabled people are socialised to see themselves as inferior.
•He argues stereotypes around disabled people exist to make able bodied people feel good about themselves
•He argues disabled people are often socialised into a ‘victim mentality’
How are disabled identities created and reinforced?:
All agents- Explains Erving Goffman’s theory: master status
•The label “disabled” carries with a stigma. Erving Goffman describes stigma as a phenomenon whereby an individual faces disapproval due to a characteristic or attribute
•Negative labels surrounding disability affect interactions between disabled people and others which is called a ‘master status’ meaning that the ‘disabled’ label overrides the other aspects of their identity
How are disabled identities created and reinforced?:
All agents- Explain Gill: Master status
•The issue of disability becoming a master status is that they learn to see themselves first in terms of their impairments
•According to Carol Gill, a polio survivor who became disabled previously held notions about what being disabled means: ‘when you become a member of the group you’ve previously felt pity for, you can’t help but turn those feelings on yourself ‘
How are disabled identities changing:
All agents- Explains Zolas theory: language
Irving Zola (1982) writes that vocab we use today is borrowed from a discriminatory, able bodied society. For example “disabled, abnormal”.
As a result campaigners have called for a new language to discuss disability e.g the term ‘disabled’ would be preferred as ‘differently abled’.
How are disabled identities created and reinforced?:
Agent- Media
Explain Barnes’ theory - media representations
Collin Barnes (1992) argues mass media representations of disability have been oppressive and negative
Barnes notes eight common media representations of people with disabilities which are:
1)In need of pity and charity
2)As victims
3)As villains
4)As supper-cripples
5)As a burden
6)As sexually abnormal
7)As incapable of participating fully in community life
8)As ordinary people
How are disabled identities changing?
Explain Murugami : “a person first”
•Margaret Murugami (2009) argues disabled people have abilities to construct a self-identity based on what they are able to do rather than in terms of their disability.
•If abilities are blocked by societal and environmental barriers such as poor access or lack of awareness, the blame is directed at society rather than the impairment
•Watson illustrate this point, quoting a person with a disability who said: ‘I know this is going to sound very strange to you, but I don’t see myself as a disabled person”
How are disabled identities changing?:
Explain the changes in the law - disability discrimination act
•In 1995 the disability discrimination act was passed, giving legal protection and enforceable rights to disabled people
•The equality act (2010) dictated public places, employers and schools making ‘reasonable adjustments’.
•This mean making physical change e.g providing ramps/elevators and providing extra aids or support e.g giving people extra breaks
How are disabled identities changing?:
Agent- Media
Explain Scope campaign #EndTheAwkward
•Scopes campaign is intended to break the awkwardness people feel about disability, by raising awareness of the experience disabled people have
•Endtheawkward campaign shows 62% of disabled people say their treated differently and 2/5 have been asked “what’s wrong with you”
•The campaign helps raise awareness about how to best deal with disability
