DISABLED IDENTITY THEORISTS Flashcards
Arguments they HAVE CHANGED
Greater Public Awareness
Greater public awareness of disabled causes and greater public profile for disability through shows like the last leg, Lee Ridley, (lost voice guy), winning Britain’s got talent and celebration of the Paralympics.
Arguments they HAVE CHANGED
Murugami
The self-identity of disabled people often formed based on what they can do rather then what they can’t do. If their access is blocked, this is due to societal and environmental barriers rather then being their fault.
Arguments they HAVE CHANGED
Globalisation
Globalisation and the rise of digital communication have reduced barriers for disabled people to create a positive disabled identity. This is due to the ability to develop connections and communities online.
Arguments they HAVEN’T CHANGED
Zola
Attitudes towards disability remain negative, argued the vocab used to describe disability is viewed through discriminatory language used by able bodied people.
The disabled are seen as “de-formed, dis-abled, dis-eased, dis-ordered, ab-normal, and in-valid”
Arguments they HAVEN’T CHANGED
Barnes
Suggests media gives negative stereotypes to disabled people. Argues that it is rare to see disability being presented as a social norm, instead presenting disabled people as a burden on society.
Arguments they HAVEN’T CHANGED
Carol Gill
(disability psychologist, polio survivor)
Suggested when you have viewed those with disabilities with pity, as an able bodied person, it is hard not to turn those feelings into yourself when you become disabled
Arguments they are STILL IMPORTANT
Medical Model
Sees disability as a medical problem and focuses on the limitations that a person’s disability might cause them. Shakespeare notes that disabled people are often socialised into seeing their disability as most important to their identity, leading to a “victim mentality”.
Arguments they are STILL IMPORTANT
Interactionists (labelling theory)
Argue that the labelling of people as disabled can create a master status in which disabled people view their disability as more important to their identity than any other aspect of their identity.
Arguments they are STILL IMPORTANT
Carol Gill
A disability psychologist Carol Gill, a polio survivor suggested that when you have viewed those with disabilities with pity, as an able bodied person, it is hard not to turn those feelings onto yourself when you become disabled.
Arguments they are no longer important
Social model
Suggests that disability is merely limited by society’s inability to accommodate those who have different needs. Some are against the use of the term
“disability” preferring the term
“differently abled”. Shakespeare notes the challenges to developing a positive disabled identity due to isolation from other disabled people and a lack of strong role models.
Arguments they are no longer important
Muragami
The self-identity of disabled people is often formed based on what they can do rather than what they can’t do. If their access is blocked, this is due to societal and environmental barriers rather than being their fault.
Arguments they are no longer important
Watson
Quotes a disabled person who said “I know this is going to sound very strange to you but I don’t think of myself as a disabled person.”
