Disabilities and Giftedness Exam 1

How do our language and labels reflect our models of disability?

Language and labels do not merely describe disability; they actively construct, reflect, and reinforce specific models of disability—the conceptual frameworks society uses to understand human variance, health, and social equity.

Advantages of Labeling

1. Spreads awareness and knowledge of the disorder

2. Improves or allows preparation of accommodations and accessibility 

3. Provides relief in diagnosis

Disadvantages of Labeling

1. Outsiders may jump to conclusions and form stereotypes

2. Labeled individual can feel under-motivated 

3. Isolation and marginalization

Why is person first language important when talking about individuals with disabilities?

Person-first language emphasizes the individual before their disability, promoting respect and dignity by acknowledging that they are people first, and their disability is just one aspect of their identity.

1. Humanity First

2. Separation of identity from condition

3. Reduction of Stigma

Autistic Person vs. Person with Autism

Are there other perspectives by PWD about person first language? 

• Distance Over Dignity: Advocates like activist Lawrence Carter-Long argue that insisting on PFL often stems from non-disabled people feeling uncomfortable saying the word "disabled." Treating "disabled" as a bad word that needs to be buffered with "person with..." reinforces the idea that disability is inherently tragic or shameful.

• The Euphemism Treadmill: Linguist Steven Pinker coined this term to describe how replacing a stigmatized word with a neutral one doesn't remove the stigma; instead, the stigma eventually attaches to the new word. Many PWD argue that changing labels (e.g., from handicapped to person with special needs to person with diverse abilities) does nothing to fix actual barriers like inaccessible transit or housing discrimination.

• PFL as a Compliance Shield: Organizations often adopt strict PFL guidelines to appear inclusive and progressive while failing to make physical spaces accessible, hire disabled employees, or provide reasonable accommodations.

• Correction vs. Contribution: Disabled individuals frequently report being corrected by non-disabled people for using Identity-First Language to describe themselves. This creates a frustrating dynamic where non-disabled "allies" police the language of the very people they claim to support.

Medical/ Legal Setting » PFL

Politicla/ Community Setting » IFL

Moral Model of Disability

• Views disability as a punishment (OT generational Sin)

• Associated with sin and shame

• Possibility of spiritual abuse (routine healing sessions)

Medical Model of Disability

• Problem residing within the person, in need of healthcare service

• A need to fix it- “you are not ok”

• Medical Professionals hold the power

• Sees PWDs as passive “less than”

• Longest History 

• Objectifying Jargon 

Functional/ Rehabilitative Model of Disability

• “Disability is a challenge to overcome”

• Can lead to this idea of “Super Crip”

• OT/PT models were birthed out of this

Social/ Environmental Model of Disability

• The Problem = Disabling Environment 

• A social construction, we have made it a problem 

• Inaccessible programs and policies 

• Social isolation 

• People’s attitudes and language

• Physical Barriers 

• No one would “have disabilities” if our world were increasingly accommodating 

Cultural Model of Disability

• Cultural beliefs determine what people perceive as a disability and what is not a disability

• Disabilities can be seen as a gift (epilepsy is communication with God) or a curse

Psychological Model of Disability

• Self-created bias and oppression

• Internalized oppression that results in low self-worth and self-victimization

Implications of each model of disability

• Moral: Disability is framed as a spiritual failing or divine punishment, placing the responsibility on the individual or family to endure guilt or seek redemption.

• Medical: Disability is viewed as an individual biological pathology, implying that the primary goal must be clinical diagnosis, treatment, or cure.

• Functional: Disability is understood as a specific operational deficit, shifting the focus toward task-based adaptations, assistive technologies, and skill acquisition.

• Social: Disability is recognized as a structural creation of societal and environmental barriers, implying that society—not the individual—must change to ensure full accessibility and equity.

• Cultural: Disability is celebrated as a shared, authentic community identity and worldview, emphasizing group solidarity, pride, and natural human variance.

• Psychological: Disability is viewed through the lens of individual emotional processing, self-concept, and mental adaptation, focusing on personal acceptance and cognitive coping mechanisms.

Disability Culture

• People with disabilities have forged a group identity. They share a common history of oppression and a common bond of resilience. We generate art, music, literature, and other expressions of our lives and culture, infused from our experience of disability. Most importantly, we are proud of ourselves as people with disabilities. We claim our disabilities with pride as part of our identity. We are who we are: We are people with disabilities.”

• Characterisitics

  • Value independence, but realize the importance of interdependence

  • Patience 

  • Acceptance of individual differences 

  • Not as obsessed with physical imperfection 

  • Assertiveness 

  • Matter-of-fact orientation toward helping- vulnerability and interdependence as part of life

  • Tolerance for lack of resolution

  • Flexible, adaptive approach to tasks-creativity

  • Skill in managing multiple problems, systems, technology, and assistants

  • Savant Skills

Examples of Disability Culture

1. Deaf theater

2. Adaptive dance

3. Paralympics

4. Spoon Theory

Examples of microaggresions against disability

1. Denial of Identity “I cannot believe you are a professor”

2. Denial of disability related experiences “We are all disabled” or target is accused of being too sensitive

3. Denial of privacy “Can you have sex?”

4. Condition of helplessness “How are you going to cross the road?” “Like I always do…”

5. Secondary gain- recognition for their good deeds “I had to help roll Susan to the top of the hill in her wheelchair”

6. Spread effect- overgeneralize impairment in one aspect to other aspects of a PWD, for instance shouting at a blind individual (as if they were deaf)

7. Patronization- false admiration or inspiration porn

8. Infantilization- talking to a PWD like a child “sugar” or “hon”

9. Second Class Citizenship “Do they really need this accomodation?”

10. Desexualization= should not seek sexuality or sexual partner or assume asexuality

How does ableism operate as a form of prejudice and discrimination aimed at people with disabilities? 

• Stigmatization 

  • Individual characteristics are ignored

  • Members can internalize the negative social judgment

• Insider vs. outsider perspective

  • Assume they know what it is like

  • Overly personal questions highlight insider vs. outsider distinction

  • Assume they lead limited lives 

  • Infantilize 

What are the origins of ableism?

• Minimal Group Paradigm 

  • Unfortunately, we make decisions and are less likely to extend favors to those whom we consider an outgroup

• Tajfel and Turner’s Social Identity Theory- Ingroup Favoritism

  • Maintain favorable distinctiveness by increasing the status of the group tied to their own self-concept

  • Represents a basic social norm

• Outgroup Homogeneity effect 

  • Where all members of a given outgroup are believed to have the same (usually negative) characteristics, while their own in-group is construed in heterogeneous terms

    • “All disabled people are needy”

What are examples of ableism?

• Social gatherings or business meetings in inaccessible venues

• Signage or elevator buttons lack Braille letters 

• Disability must be “visible” to be real 

• Accessible stalls are used by non-disabled people 

• Disability viewed as sad or tragic 

• Microaggressions 

  • “You don’t seem disabled”

  • “God only gives you what you can handle”

  • “I’ll be praying for you and your condition”

  • Speaking to a personal assistant instead of the PWD

  • Honorary team manager or team mascot 

  • Stella Young’s Inspiration Porn

How do microagressions affect my vocational plans?

When treating disabled patients, provider-side microaggressions compromise clinical care by triggering diagnostic overshadowing—falsely attributing new physical or mental symptoms to a patient's pre-existing condition—which delays accurate diagnosis and treatment. They often manifest through infantilizing behaviors, such as speaking over the patient to a caregiver or invading physical boundaries by handling mobility equipment without consent, directly eroding patient autonomy and trust. Furthermore, underlying biases regarding a disabled person's quality of life can lead clinicians to deprioritize preventative care, withhold necessary treatments, or overlook reproductive and mental health needs. Ultimately, these subtle slights create systemic barriers in healthcare settings, sending the implicit message that accessible, equitable, and thorough clinical care is an inconvenient afterthought.

Why did PWD need a civil rights law? 

A high percentage of people with disabilities live in poverty

There was discrimination in employment

• Exclusion from the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Title VII of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin—but left out disability entirely. This left PWD with no federal statutory backing to fight discrimination in private employment, public accommodations, or transportation.

• The Failure of the Medical and Charity Models: Prior to civil rights legislation, policy treated disability strictly as a medical defect to cure or a personal misfortune requiring pity and charity. Laws were needed to establish that access to society is a matter of equal right, not benevolence or paternalism.

• Systemic and Structural Exclusion: Society was physically constructed without PWD in mind—buildings lacked ramps, public transit was inaccessible, and voting booths, courtrooms, and schools physically excluded disabled citizens. Without legal mandates, institutions had no incentive or obligation to remove these structural barriers.

• Widespread Discrimination in Core Life Domains:

  • Employment: Employers could legally refuse to hire qualified individuals simply because they had a disability or required minor workplace modifications.

  • Education & Institutionalization: Millions of disabled children were excluded from public schools or placed in underfunded, segregated institutions without equal educational access.

  • Public Life: Private businesses (restaurants, theaters, stores) could refuse service to disabled people without legal recourse.

Why was the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 a key turning point?

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was a monumental turning point in the disability rights movement because it shifted the legal definition of disability from a medical/welfare issue to a fundamental civil rights issue.

• Cross-Disability Coalition Building: The fight to enforce Section 504 united individuals across diverse disability groups—wheelchair users, Deaf individuals, blind citizens, and people with mental health conditions—into a single political movement.

• Redefining "Access": It established that physical and procedural barriers (like stairs without ramps or lack of sign language interpreters) were not personal misfortunes, but structural societal failures that institutions had a legal obligation to correct.

What are the family system variables that influence the family with a disability?

• Bronfenbrenner (Family model) System

  • Individuals influences the systems around them and the systems influence the individual 

  • Ripple Effect between Systems

  • Microsystem >>> Mesosystem >>> Exosystem>>> Macrosystem 

• Circumplex System

  • Cohesion or closeness of the family members 

  • Flexibility in roles or relationships within the family 

  • Communication between family members

• Resiliency Model 

  • Family demands

  • Family appraisal of the situation 

  • Family resources 

  • Family problem- solving and coping

Describe the complex constitutionality issues with parents with developmental delays and historical/current treatment of parents with intellectual disabilities.

• Parens Patrie

  • Gives the state the ability to step in and protect children with parents who have disabilities by removing parental rights (protects the child)

• The 14th Amendment to the Constitution 

  • The family unit should be kept together (protects the parents with disabilities)

What are some of the positive outcomes for a marriage or positive impact on siblings?  (Think of the family panel, lecture, textbook and readings)

• Extra support from siblings 

• Increased independence, maturity, tolerance of differences 

• Parents who have children with disabilities tend to be more accepting and don’t get nearly as caught up with the small things of life 

• Father’s of children with disabilities tend to have greater self-acceptance

• When the counseling helps the entire family, not just the individual with disability 

• When medical decisions are being made with the family and not just one on one with the medical professional

Illustrate the potential family reactions and ways of coping, both healthy and unhealthy. 

• Ways of Reacting

  • Shock, Disbelief, and denial

  • Realization

  • Defensive Retreat: a psychological stage or coping mechanism where an individual attempts to protect themselves from the overwhelming emotional shock and pain of acquiring a disability by withdrawing, denying the full impact of their condition, or clinging to unrealistic expectations of recovery.

  • Acknowledgement

• Ways of Coping

  • Reframing: Rather than changing the physical reality of a disability, reframing changes the mental lens through which that reality is experienced—moving away from unhelpful, stigmatized, or catastrophic interpretations toward balanced, empowering, and adaptive ones.

    • Unhelpful Frame: "My broken body prevents me from living a normal life."

    • Reframed View: "My body works differently. Navigating a world not built for me makes me adaptable, creative, and resilient."

  • Passive appraisal: a cognitive coping strategy characterized by evaluating a stressful situation or disability-related barrier as something that must be passively accepted, endured, or left to resolve on its own, without taking direct active action to change it.

  • Spiritual support 

  • Social support 

  • Professional support 

Identify Yuker, Block & Young’s recommendations for authentic inclusion of PWDs

Four conditions 

• Equal status relationships 

• Natural contact 

• View PWD as someone to ward off negative stereotypes 

• Both individuals have the same goal

• What are some best practices in inclusive classrooms, the workplace, and community settings, such as the church?

• acceptance of diversity, acceptance, and belonging

• formal and natural supports

• developmentally appropriate practice

• age-appropriate classrooms in neighborhood schools

• modify assignments

• Assistive technology

• direct and intensive instruction

• involve students in pair or group work

What can psychological theories and research teach us about what types of contact reduce prejudice against PWD?

Allport’s Contact Theory

• Equal Status

• Common Goals

• Intergroup Cooperation

• Support of Authorities, Law, or Custom

High quality contact is more important than quantity of contact

What are the key protections of the ADA?

1. Title I: Employment

2. Title II: State and Local Governments

3. Title III: Public Accommodations

4. Title IV: Telecommunications

5. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions

What are key protections of the IDEA including FAPE and LRE?

Four Major Provisions for FAPE: 

-nondiscriminatory and multidisciplinary assessments

-Parent rights

-Individualized Education Plan 

-LRE-least restrictive environment

1973 Section 504

Section 504- Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  

The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare stalled in these implementations. 

Large Sit-ins were staged. 

1975 IDEA

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

1990 ADA

The ADA is passed. 

Justin Dart and Robert Burgdorf were considered the fathers of the ADA.

There was a hidden army of support. 

Civil Rights Law (anti-discrimination)

1. Employment

2. Transportation

3. Public Accommodations and Services

4. Telecommunications

5. Miscellaneous

1935 Social Security Act

Social Security Act- FDR said, “it is not a matter of charity, but of social justice”. People with disabilities who couldn’t work needed a safety net of financial support. 

1776 Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War took place.

Lots of injuries and disablements took place as a result of the war. 

PWD fit into society relatively well. They were well taken care of (the ones with physical disabilities at least). 

Gave out veteran pensions (government took responsibility rather than social charity)