Chapter 1: Disability and Society

independent living movement

independent living defined in terms of the quality of life that disabled people could achieve with or without assistance, specifically fully integrated with the disabled community.

custodial care

assistance that disabled people may need with daily basic needs

disability rights movement

a movement of equality and social justice that occurred in the context of other oppositional movements of the 1960s that advocated for the rights of people with disabilities.

disability studies

an interdisciplinary field that includes representation from the social sciences, the humanities, and the medical, rehabilitation, and education professions that views disability in the context of culture, society, and politics.

impairment

a biological or physiological condition that entails the loss of physical, sensory, or cognitive function.

disability

an inability to perform a personal or socially necessary task because of that impairment or the social reaction to it.

handicap

the social disadvantage that accrues to an individual due to an impairment or disability.

ugly laws

ordinances in various US cities that declared it illegal to appear in public if one’s physical appearance offended others’ sensibilities.

stigma

a process by which a person is “reduced in our minds from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one” (Goffman).

labeling theory

micro-level sociological theory that labels (positive, negative, or neutral) attached to individuals impact one’s self-perception and behavior.

“deviance is not a quality of the act a person commits but rather a consequence” of others’ reactions (Becker).

social constructionist approach to disability

disability is a social phenomenon, an experience that cannot be reduced to the nature of the physiological impairment; rather, it is a product of societal attitudes and the social organization of society.

essentialist view of disability

disability is a condition that resides or is inherent in an individual’s particular impairment.

autism spectrum disorder

a continuum or spectrum of conditions that includes people who are considered very “low functioning” (high access needs) and “high functioning” (low access needs).

physical impairment

mobility impairments. sometimes includes sensory impairments (vision or hearing loss).

cognitive impairment

range of conditions including autism, traumatic brain injury, mental illness, and intellectual disabilities.

intellectual disabilities

mental retardation. limitations “rooted in the sub-average intellectual and adaptive functioning occurring early in life.” learning disabilities.

learning disabilities

limitations involving “the brain’s ability to receive, process, analyze, or store information” (Carey).

social difference

the recognition of a diverse social groups within a community.

ableism

a source of oppression that subjects people to political, economic, cultural, or social degradation. assumes that some people/bodies are “normal” and superior while others are “abnormal” and inferior, and entails institutional discrimination on the basis of this distinction.

Rehabilitation Act of 1973

federal disability legislation that mandated reasonable accommodations in public education and employment; required public institutions to initiate architectural accessibility reforms; and made it illegal for any federal agency, public university, and other institution or activity that received federal funding to discriminate solely on the basis of disability.

Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

federal legislation that expanded the rights of disabled people in the private and public sectors.

sociological imagination

a framework for understanding social reality that places personal experiences within a broader social and historical context. personal or private troubles are actually public issues (C. Wright Mills).

neurodiversity

atypical cognitive styles that are due to neurological differences. also a social movement to recognize a diversity in neurotypes.

• includes autism, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, epilepsy, posttraumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, Tourette’s syndrome, schizophrenia