Exploring Disability Identity And Disability Rights Through Narratives

Building on David M. Engel and Frank W. Munger’s work analyzing the narratives of people with physical and learning disabilities, this book examines the life stories of twelve physically disabled Canadian adults through the prism of the social model of disablement. Using a grounded theory approach and with extensive reporting of the thoughts of the participants in their own words, the book uses narratives to explore whether an advocacy identity helps or hinders dealings with systemic barriers for disabled people in education, employment, and transportation. The book underscores how both physical and attitudinal barriers by educators, employers and service providers complicate the lives of disabled people. The book places a particular focus on the importance of political economy and the changes to the labour market for understanding the marginalization and oppression of people with disabilities. By melding socio-legal approaches with insights from feminist, critical race, and queer legal theory, Ravi Malhotra and Morgan Rowe ask if we need to reconsider the social model of disablement, and proposes avenues for inclusive legal reform.

Building on David M. Engel and Frank W. Munger’s work analyzing the narratives of people with physical and learning disabilities, this book examines the life stories of twelve physically disabled Canadian adults through the prism of the social model of disablement. Using a grounded theory approach and with extensive reporting of the thoughts of the participants in their own words, the book uses narratives to explore whether an advocacy identity helps or hinders dealings with systemic barriers for disabled people in education, employment, and transportation. The book underscores how both physical and attitudinal barriers by educators, employers and service providers complicate the lives of disabled people. The book places a particular focus on the importance of political economy and the changes to the labour market for understanding the marginalization and oppression of people with disabilities. By melding socio-legal approaches with insights from feminist, critical race, and queer legal theory, Ravi Malhotra and Morgan Rowe ask if we need to reconsider the social model of disablement, and proposes avenues for inclusive legal reform.

"Disabling Barriers analyzes issues relating to disability at different moments in Canadian and American history. In this volume, legal scholars, historians, and disability-rights activists demonstrate that disabled people can change their social status by transforming the political and legal discourse surrounding disablement. Traditionally, disabled people were regarded as objects of pity and condescension. The rise of the social model of disablement--which identifies barriers, rather than physiological impairments, as the main problem facing people with disabilities--has resulted in a dramatic reconfiguration of how we regard political and legal structures affecting people with disabilities. Employing tools from the fields of law and history, this volume explores how disabled people have been portrayed and treated in a variety of contexts, including within the labour market, the workers' compensation system, the immigration process, and the legal system (both as litigants and as lawyers). This original contribution deepens our knowledge of the role of people with disabilities within social movements in disability history. The contributors encourage us to rethink our understanding of both the systemic barriers disabled people face and the capacity of disabled people to effect positive societal change."--

The second edition of this widely used text has been carefully rewritten to ensure that it is up-to-date with cutting-edge debates, evidence, and policy changes. Since the book's initial publication, there has been an expansion of interest in disability in the social sciences, and disability has come to play an increasingly prominent role in political debates. The new edition takes account of all these developments, and also gives greater emphasis to global issues in order to reflect the increasing and intensifying interdependence of nation states in the twenty-first century. The authors examine, amongst other issues,the changing nature of the concept of disability, key debates in the sociology of health and illness, the politicisation of disability, social policy, and the cultural and media representation of disability. As well as providing an excellent overview of the literature in the area, the book develops an understanding of disability that has implications for both sociology and society. The second edition of Exploring Disability will be indispensable for students across the social sciences, and in health and social care, who really want to understand the issues facing disabled people and disabling societies.

What is the direct impact that disability studies has on the lives of disabled people today? The editors and contributors to this essential anthology, Barriers and Belonging, provide thirty-seven personal narratives thatexplore what it means to be disabled and why the field of disability studies matters. The editors frame the volume by introducing foundational themes of disability studies. They provide a context of how institutions—including the family, schools, government, and disability peer organizations—shape and transform ideas about disability. They explore how disability informs personal identity, interpersonal and community relationships, and political commitments. In addition, there are heartfelt reflections on living with mobility disabilities, blindness, deafness, pain, autism, psychological disabilities, and other issues. Other essays articulate activist and pride orientations toward disability, demonstrating the importance of reframing traditional narratives of sorrow and medicalization. The critical, self-reflective essays in Barriers and Belonging provide unique insights into the range and complexity of disability experience.

This volume seeks to answer the call for richer, more diverse understandings of disability through questions about narrative frameworks in disability research.Narrative is a omnipresent meaning-producing communication form in social life that is both cultural and personal.

Based on the analysis of eighteen authentic and inspiring personal stories, this book illustrates how people with severe childhood disabilities achieved extraordinary career success. Growing up, the people surrounding them and environmental conditions helped them develop their self-efficacy. The book is divided into four parts. It begins by discussing the elusive essence of success, especially for people with disabilities. The authors then discuss selfefficacy, and how it pertains to occupations of people with disabilities. Part two (school years) and part three (higher education) address some of the challenges experienced by students with disabilities. It shows how parents and educational figures helped them enhance their self-efficacy. Part two also discusses current and future trends in inclusive education, and recommendations for practitioners. Part three pays attention to some of the unique traits that helped them overcome obstacles. Finally, the authors focus on employment of people with disabilities and explore some of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic in light of this. It includes messages of hope to parents, professionals and individuals with disabilities.

This book critically analyses diverse experiences related to disability in India. Drawing upon intersectionality theory, it explores a range of issues regarding everyday experiences of disability in relation to gender, religion, social experiences, and India’s neoliberal economy and its built environment. From theoretical to deeply personal, this book discusses themes like invisible disability and identity; women with disabilities in India; bodily frustrations and cultural stigma; emotional stability and self-esteem of children with disabilities; neurodiversity and queerness; and overcoming the barriers. It also emphasizes the impact of the writings of women with disabilities on their personal experiences. The volume discusses perspectives and practices of schooling, curricular transactions, and inclusive education that have evolved for children who are deaf in India. Conversational and interdisciplinary, this book will be of interest to scholars and practitioners of disability studies, social care, mental health, social psychology, gender studies, social work, and special education.