Disability

by Barnes, Colin; Mercer, Geof

• ISBN13: 9780745625096
• ISBN10: 0745625096
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-01-31
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

For most of the twentieth century, people with disabilities have been regarded as 'victims' of their condition and a 'burden' on society. More recently, however, disabled people and their organizations across Europe and North America have challenged conventional explanations for their individual and collective disadvantage, calling for policy measures to change the image and status of disabled people in the Western world. In this new book, Barnes and Mercer provide a concise and accessible introduction to the concept of disability. Drawing on a burgeoning 'disability studies' literature from around the world, and from a range of disciplinary perspectives, the authors explore the evolution of this concept and offer a wide-ranging critique of established academic, policy and professional orthodoxies. The book highlights disabled peoples' exclusion and marginalization in key areas of social activity and participation across different historical and cultural contexts, such as family life and reproduction, education, employment, leisure, cultural imagery and politics. The analysis concentrates on disability as a distinctive form of social oppression similar to that experienced by women, minority ethnic and 'racial' groups, and lesbians and gay men. Key issues addressed include: theorizing disability; historical and comparative perspectives; experiencing impairment and disability; professional and policy intervention in the lives of disabled people; disability politics, social policy and citizenship; and disability culture. This will be essential reading for those studying sociology, social policy, social work, health studies, disability studies, and those in the therapy and nursing professions.

Author Biography

Colin Barnes is Professor of Disability Studies and Geof Mercer is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Social Polity at the University of Leeds

Table of Contents

Disability: A Choice of Models	1	(18)
Disability as a personal tragedy	2	(7)
Challenging the disabling society	9	(7)
Issues and themes	16	(2)
Review	18	(1)
Disabling Societies: Domination and Oppression	19	(23)
Disability as a form of social oppression	20	(2)
Historical patterns and perspectives	22	(11)
Late twentieth-century trends	33	(7)
Review	40	(2)
Social Oppression: Patterns and Social Divisions	42	(23)
Social exclusion	43	(14)
Social divisions	57	(6)
Review	63	(2)
Impairment, Disability and the Body	65	(23)
Separating impairment and disability	66	(6)
Experiencing impairment and disability	72	(8)
Disabled minds and bodies	80	(6)
Review	86	(2)
Culture, Media and Representation	88	(22)
Analysing culture	89	(2)
Cultural representations of disability	91	(8)
Audiences and media effects	99	(2)
Disability culture	101	(8)
Review	109	(1)
The Politics of Disability: Breaking Down the Barriers?	110	(23)
Liberal democratic politics	111	(5)
Civil rights and anti-discrimination legislation	116	(7)
Towards a new social movement?	123	(6)
Identity politics	129	(2)
Review	131	(2)
Disability and Development: Global Perspectives	133	(17)
Impairment in the majority world	134	(7)
Disability and globalization	141	(7)
Review	148	(2)
References	150	(25)
Index	175