Editing Disability (section)

== Theory ==
Like many social categories, the concept of "disability" is under heavy discussion amongst academia, the medical and legal worlds, and the disability community.

=== Disability studies ===
The academic discipline focused on theorizing disability is [[disability studies]], which has been expanding since the late twentieth century. The field investigates the past, present, and future constructions of disability, along with advancing the viewpoint that disability is a complex social identity from which we can all gain insight. As disabilities scholar Claire Mullaney puts it, "At its broadest, disability studies encourages scholars to value disability as a form of cultural difference".<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Mullaney |first=Clare |date=April 13, 2019 |title=Disability Studies: Foundations & Key Concepts |url=https://daily.jstor.org/reading-list-disability-studies/ |access-date=October 8, 2022 |website=JSTOR Daily |language=en-US}}</ref> Scholars of the field focus on a range of disability-related topics, such as ethics, policy and legislation, history, art of the disability community, and more. Notable scholars from the field include [[Marta Russell]], [[Robert McRuer]], [[Johanna Hedva]], [[Laura Hershey]], [[Irving Zola]], and many more. Prominent disability scholar [[Lennard J. Davis]] notes that disability studies should not be considered a niche or specialized discipline, but instead is applicable to a wide range of fields and topics.<ref name=":7" />

=== International Classification ===
The [[International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health]] (ICF), produced by the [[World Health Organization]], distinguishes between body functions (physiological or psychological, such as vision) and body structures (anatomical parts, such as the eye and related structures). Impairment in bodily structure or function is defined as involving an anomaly, defect, loss or other significant deviation from certain generally accepted population standards, which may fluctuate over time. Activity is defined as the execution of a task or action. The ICF lists nine broad domains of functioning which can be affected:
* Learning and applying knowledge
* General tasks and demands
* Communication
* Basic physical mobility, Domestic life, and Self-care (for example, [[activities of daily living]])
* Interpersonal interactions and relationships
* Community, social and civic life, including [[employment]]
* Other major life areas
In concert with disability scholars, the introduction to the ICF states that a variety of conceptual models have been proposed to understand and explain disability and functioning, which it seeks to integrate. These models include the following:

=== Medical model ===
{{Main|Medical model of disability}}

The [[medical model]] views disability as a problem of the person, directly caused by disease, trauma, or other health conditions which therefore requires sustained medical care in the form of individual treatment by professionals. In the medical model, management of the disability is aimed at a "cure", or the individual's adjustment and behavioral change that would lead to an "almost-cure" or effective cure. The individual, in this case, must overcome their disability by medical care. In the medical model, medical care is viewed as the main issue, and at the political level, the principal response is that of modifying or reforming [[healthcare]] policy.{{sfn|Nikora|Karapu|Hickey|Te Awekotuku|2004|p=5}}{{sfn|Donovan|2012|p=12}}

The medical model focuses on finding causes and cures for disabilities.

==== Causes ====
There are many causes of disability that often affect basic [[activities of daily living]], such as eating, dressing, transferring, and maintaining [[personal hygiene]]; or advanced activities of daily living such as shopping, food preparation, driving, or working. However, causes of disability are usually determined by a person's capability to perform the activities of daily life. As Marta Russell and Ravi Malhotra argue, "The '[[medicalization]]' of disablement and the tools of classification clearly played an important role in establishing divisions between the 'disabled' and the 'able-bodied.{{'"}}{{sfn|Russell|2019|page=4}} This positions disability as a problem to be solved via medical intervention, which hinders our understanding about what disability can mean.

<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Krause |first1=Niklas |last2=Frank |first2=John W. |last3=Dasinger |first3=Lisa K. |last4=Sullivan |first4=Terry J. |last5=Sinclair |first5=Sandra J. |date=2001-09-25 |title=Determinants of duration of disability and return-to-work after work-related injury and illness: Challenges for future research |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajim.1116 |journal=American Journal of Industrial Medicine |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=464–484 |doi=10.1002/ajim.1116 |pmid=11598995 |issn=0271-3586}}</ref> For the purposes of the [[Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990]], the US [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] regulations provide a list of conditions that should easily be concluded to be disabilities: [[amputation]], [[attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]] (ADHD), [[autism]], [[bipolar disorder]], [[blindness]], [[cancer]], [[cerebral palsy]], [[deafness]], [[diabetes]], [[epilepsy]], [[HIV/AIDS]], [[intellectual disability]], [[major depressive disorder]], [[mobility impairment]]s requiring a wheelchair, [[multiple sclerosis]], [[muscular dystrophy]], [[obsessive–compulsive disorder]] (OCD), [[post-traumatic stress disorder]] (PTSD), [[spina bifida]], and [[schizophrenia]].<ref name="FR">{{cite web |year=2011 |title=Regulations To Implement the Equal Employment Provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act, as Amended |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/03/25/2011-6056/regulations-to-implement-the-equal-employment-provisions-of-the-americans-with-disabilities-act-as |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822130008/https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/03/25/2011-6056/regulations-to-implement-the-equal-employment-provisions-of-the-americans-with-disabilities-act-as |archive-date=August 22, 2016 |access-date=January 9, 2019 |website=Federal Register}}</ref>

This is not an exhaustive list and many injuries and medical problems cause disability. Some causes of disability, such as injuries, may resolve over time and are considered ''temporary disabilities''. An ''acquired disability'' is the result of impairments that occur suddenly or chronically during the lifespan, as opposed to being born with the impairment. ''[[Invisible disabilities]]'' may not be obviously noticeable.

==== Cures ====
The medical model focuses heavily on finding treatments, cures, or rehabilitative practices for disabled people.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9780271085296-002 |chapter=The Rhetorical Dimensions of Ableism |title=Ableist Rhetoric |date=2019 |pages=1–25 |isbn=978-0-271-08529-6 |s2cid=242299440}}</ref>

===== Assistive technology =====
{{Main|Assistive technology}}
[[Assistive technology]] is a generic term for devices and modifications (for a person or within a society) that help overcome or remove a disability. The first recorded example of the use of a [[prosthesis]] dates to at least 1800 BC.<ref>{{cite web |title=Disability Social History Project&nbsp;– Timeline |url=http://www.disabilityhistory.org/timeline_new.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901075055/http://www.disabilityhistory.org/timeline_new.html |archive-date=September 1, 2017 |access-date=August 11, 2012 |publisher=Disabilityhistory.org}}</ref> The [[wheelchair]] dates from the 17th century.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Cooper, Rory A |title=An Introduction to Rehabilitation Engineering |author2=Hisaichi Ohnabe |author3=Douglas A. Hobson |publisher=CRC Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4200-1249-1 |page=131}}</ref> The [[curb cut]] is a related structural innovation. Other examples are [[standing frames]], text [[telephones]], accessible [[Keyboard (computing)|keyboards]], [[large print]], [[braille]], and [[speech recognition]] [[software]]. Disabled people often develop adaptations which can be personal (e.g. strategies to suppress tics in public) or community (e.g. [[sign language]] in d/Deaf communities).

As the [[personal computer]] has become more ubiquitous, various organizations have formed to [[software development|develop software]] and [[computer hardware|hardware]] to make computers more accessible for disabled people. Some software and hardware, such as [[Voice Finger]], [[Freedom Scientific]]'s ''[[JAWS (screen reader)|JAWS]]'', the Free and Open Source alternative ''[[Orca (assistive technology)|Orca]]'' etc. have been specifically designed for disabled people while other software and hardware, such as [[Nuance Communications|Nuance]]'s [[Dragon NaturallySpeaking]], were not developed specifically for disabled people, but can be used to increase accessibility.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unh.edu/diversity-inclusion/student-accessibility|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408025058/http://www.unh.edu/disabilityservices/dragon-naturally-speaking|url-status=dead|title=Student Accessibility Services: Dragon Naturally Speaking|archivedate=April 8, 2015|website=University of New Hampshire}}</ref> The [[LOMAK]] keyboard was designed in New Zealand specifically for persons with disabilities.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sobh |first=Tarek |url=https://archive.org/details/innovationsadvan00sobh_587 |title=Innovations and Advanced Techniques in Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering |publisher=Springer |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4020-6268-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/innovationsadvan00sobh_587/page/n190 176] |url-access=limited}}</ref>
The World Wide Web consortium recognized a need for International Standards for Web Accessibility for persons with disabilities and created the [[Web Accessibility Initiative]] (WAI).<ref>{{cite web |title=Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) |url=http://www.w3.org/WAI/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080904094012/http://www.w3.org/WAI/ |archive-date=September 4, 2008 |access-date=January 29, 2013 |publisher=W3C}}</ref> As at Dec 2012 the standard is WCAG 2.0 (WCAG = Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).<ref>{{cite web |title=Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 |url=http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218045254/http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ |archive-date=February 18, 2011 |access-date=January 29, 2013 |publisher=W3C}}</ref>

=== Social model ===
{{Main|Social model of disability}}

The social model of disability sees "disability" as a socially created problem and a matter of the full [[Inclusion (disability rights)|integration of individuals into society]]. In this model, disability is not an attribute of an individual, but rather a complex collection of conditions, created by the social environment. The management of the problem requires [[social activist|social action]] and it is the collective responsibility of society to create a society in which limitations for disabled people are minimal. Disability is both [[cultural]] and [[ideological]] in creation. According to the social model, equal access for someone with an impairment/disability is a human rights concern.{{sfn|Nikora|Karapu|Hickey|Te Awekotuku|2004|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Donovan|2012|p=12}} The social model of disability has come under criticism. While recognizing the importance played by the social model in stressing the responsibility of society, scholars, including [[Tom Shakespeare]], point out the limits of the model and urge the need for a new model that will overcome the "medical vs. social" dichotomy.<ref>{{cite book |author=Shakespeare, T. |title=Exploring Theories and Expanding Methodologies: Where we are and where we need to go |author2=Watson, N. |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7623-0773-9 |editor1=Barnartt, S.N. |series=Research in Social Science and Disability |volume=2 |location=Bingley |pages=9–28 |chapter=The social model of disability: An outdated ideology? |doi=10.1016/S1479-3547(01)80018-X |editor2=Altman, B.M.}}</ref> The limitations of this model mean that often the vital services and information persons with disabilities face are simply not available, often due to limited economic returns in supporting them.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parker |first1=Christopher J. |last2=May |first2=Andrew |last3=Mitchell |first3=Val |last4=Burrows |first4=Alison |date=2015 |title=Capturing Volunteered Information for Inclusive Service Design: Potential Benefits and Challenges |url=https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/11589 |url-status=live |journal=The Design Journal |volume=16 |issue=11 |pages=197–218 |doi=10.2752/175630613X13584367984947 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510193642/https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Capturing_volunteered_information_for_inclusive_service_design_potential_benefits_and_challenges/9349877 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |access-date=January 8, 2019 |s2cid=110716823}}</ref>

Some say [[medical humanities]] is a fruitful field where the gap between the medical and the social model of disability might be bridged.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Garden R |year=2010 |title=Disability and narrative: new directions for medicine and the medical humanities |journal=Med. Humanit. |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=70–74 |doi=10.1136/jmh.2010.004143 |pmid=21393285 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

==== Social construction ====
The social construction of disability is the idea that disability is constructed by social expectations and institutions rather than biological differences. Highlighting the ways society and institutions construct disability is one of the main focuses of this idea.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mallon |first=Ron |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/social-construction-naturalistic/ |title=Naturalistic Approaches to Social Construction |year=2014 |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |edition=Winter 2014 |access-date=February 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190318091540/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/social-construction-naturalistic/ |archive-date=March 18, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the same way that race and gender are not biologically fixed, neither is disability.

Around the early 1970s, sociologists, notably Eliot Friedson, began to argue that [[labeling theory]] and [[social deviance]] could be applied to disability studies. This led to the creation of the [[social construction of disability]] theory. The social construction of disability is the idea that disability is constructed as the social response to a deviance from the norm. The medical industry is the creator of the ill and disabled social role. Medical professionals and institutions, who wield expertise over health, have the ability to define health and physical and mental norms. When an individual has a feature that creates an impairment, restriction, or limitation from reaching the social definition of health, the individual is labeled as disabled. Under this idea, disability is not defined by the physical features of the body but by a deviance from the [[social convention]] of health.<ref>{{cite book |last=Freidson |first=Eliot |title=Profession of Medicine: A Study of the Sociology of Applied Knowledge |publisher=Harper and Row |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-06-042205-9 |pages=205–10}}</ref>

The social construction of disability would argue that the [[medical model of disability]]'s view that a disability is an impairment, restriction, or limitation is wrong. Instead what is seen as a disability is just a difference in the individual from what is considered "normal" in society.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burch |first=Susan |title=Encyclopedia of American Disability History Vol. 2 |publisher=Facts on File |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8160-7030-5 |pages=543–44}}</ref>

=== Other models ===
* The '''political/relational model''' is an alternative to and critical engagement with both the social and medical models. This analytic posed by Alison Kafer shows not only how the "problem" of disability "is located in inaccessible buildings, discriminatory attitudes, and ideological systems that attribute normalcy and deviance to particular minds and bodies" but also how mind and bodily impairments can still have disabling effects. Furthermore, the political/relational model frames the medicalization of disabled folks as political in nature given it should always be interrogated.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kafer |first=Alison |title=Feminist, Queer, Crip |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2013}}</ref>
* The '''spectrum model''' refers to the range of audibility, sensibility, and visibility under which people function. The model asserts that disability does not necessarily mean a reduced spectrum of operations. Rather, disability is often defined according to thresholds set on a continuum of disability.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 2011 |title=International organisations report on disability |url=http://www.dpa.org.nz/news/bites-newsletter/55-bites-august-2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130205123349/http://dpa.org.nz/news/bites-newsletter/55-bites-august-2011 |archive-date=February 5, 2013 |access-date=March 6, 2013 |publisher=Disabled Persons Assembly New Zealand}}</ref>
* The '''moral model''' refers to the attitude that people are ''morally responsible'' for their own disability.<ref name="Disability Model">{{cite web |last=Kaplan |first=Deborah |title=Disability Model |url=http://www.peoplewho.org/debate/kaplan.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425122854/http://www.peoplewho.org/debate/kaplan.htm |archive-date=April 25, 2012 |access-date=October 30, 2011 |publisher=World Institute on Disability}}</ref> For example, disability may be seen as a result of bad actions of parents if [[congenital]], or as a result of practicing witchcraft if not.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lum |first=Doman |title=Culturally Competent Practice: A Framework for Understanding Diverse Groups and Justice Issues |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8400-3443-4 |page=449}}</ref> Echoes of this can be seen in the doctrine of [[karma]] in Eastern and New Age religions. It also includes notions that a disability gives a person "special abilities to perceive, reflect, transcend, be spiritual".<ref>{{cite book |last=Olkin |first=Rhoda |title=What Psychotherapists Should Know About Disability |publisher=Guilford Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4625-0613-2 |page=26}}</ref>
* The '''expert/professional model''' has provided a traditional response to disability issues and can be seen as an offshoot of the medical model. Within its framework, professionals follow a process of identifying the impairment and its limitations (using the medical model), and taking the necessary action to improve the position of the disabled person. This has tended to produce a system in which an authoritarian, over-active service provider prescribes and acts for a passive client.{{sfn|Nikora|Karapu|Hickey|Te Awekotuku|2004|pp=5–6}}
* The '''tragedy/charity model''' depicts disabled people as victims of circumstance who are deserving of pity. This, along with the medical model, are the models used by most people with no acknowledged disability to define and explain disability.{{sfn|Nikora|Karapu|Hickey|Te Awekotuku|2004|p=6}}
* The '''legitimacy model''' views disability as a value-based determination about which explanations for the atypical are legitimate for membership in the disability category. This viewpoint allows for multiple explanations and models to be considered as purposive and viable.{{sfn|DePoy|Gilson|2004}}
* The '''social adapted model''' states although a person's disability poses some limitations in an able-bodied society, often the surrounding society and environment are more limiting than the disability itself.{{sfn|Nikora|Karapu|Hickey|Te Awekotuku|2004|p=7}}
* The '''economic model''' defines disability in terms of reduced ability to work, the related loss of productivity and economic effects on the individual, employer and society in general.<ref>{{cite web |title=Economic Model of Disability |url=http://www.copower.org/models-of-disability/176-economic-model-of-disability.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728030739/http://www.copower.org/models-of-disability/176-economic-model-of-disability.html |archive-date=July 28, 2012 |access-date=August 11, 2012 |publisher=Michigan Disability Rights Coalition}}</ref>
* The '''empowering model''' (also, '''customer model''' or '''[[supported decision making]]''') allows for the person with a disability and their family to decide the course of their treatment. This turns the professional into a service provider whose role is to offer guidance and carry out the client's decisions. This model "empowers" the individual to pursue their own goals.{{sfn|Nikora|Karapu|Hickey|Te Awekotuku|2004|p=7}}
* The '''market model''' of disability is minority rights and consumerist model of disability that recognizing disabled people and their stakeholders as representing a large group of consumers, employees, and voters. This model looks to personal identity to define disability and empowers people to chart their own destiny in everyday life, with a particular focus on economic empowerment. Based on US Census data, this model shows that there are 1.2 billion people in the world who consider themselves to have a disability. "This model states that due to the size of the demographic, companies and governments will serve the desires, pushed by demand as the message becomes prevalent in the cultural mainstream."{{sfn|Donovan|2012|p=12}}
* The '''consumer model''' of disability is based upon the "rights-based" model and claims that disabled people should have equal rights and access to products, goods, and services offered by businesses. The consumer model extends the rights-based model by proposing that businesses, not only accommodate customers with disabilities under the requirements of legislation but that businesses actively seek, market to, welcome and fully engage disabled people in all aspects of business service activities. The model suggests that all business operations, for example, websites, policies, procedures, mission statements, emergency plans, programs, and services, should integrate access and inclusion practices. Furthermore, these access and inclusion practices should be based on established customer service access and inclusion standards that embrace and support the active engagement of people of all abilities in business offerings.<ref>Smith, T.B. (2012). A New and Emerging Model of Disability: The Consumer Model. White Paper. The Pennsylvania State University</ref> In this regard, specialized products and specialized services become important, such as auxiliary means, prostheses, special foods, domestic help, and assisted living.<ref>{{Cite journal |author1=Aichner, T. |author2=Shaltoni, A.M. |date=2018 |title=Marketing of specialised products and services to consumers with disabilities: exploring the role of advertising, country-of-origin, and e-commerce |journal=The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=115–36 |doi=10.1080/09593969.2017.1364658 |s2cid=169024657}}</ref>
* Different theories revolve around prejudice, stereotyping, discrimination, and stigma related to disability. One of the more popular ones, as put by Weiner, Perry, and Magnusson's (1988) work with '''[[Attribution (psychology)|attribution theory]]''', physical stigmas are perceived as to be uncontrollable and elicit pity and desire to help, whereas, mental-behavioral stigmas are considered to be controllable and therefore elicit anger and desire to neglect the individuals with disabilities.<ref>{{Cite journal |author1=Weiner, B. |author2=Perry, R.P. |author3=Magnusson, J. |date=1988 |title=An attributional analysis of reactions to stigmas |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=55 |issue=5 |pages=738–48 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.55.5.738 |pmid=2974883}}</ref>
* The ''''[[just-world fallacy]]'''' talks about how a person is viewed as deserving the disability. And because it is the fault of that person, an observer does not feel obligated to feel bad for them or to help them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lerner |first=M.J. |title=The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion |publisher=Plenum Press |year=1980 |location=New York}}</ref>