Redefining disability: a rejoinder to a critique

Authors

  • Solveig Magnus Reindal NLA Høgskolen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5324/eip.v4i1.1744

Keywords:

disability theory, ICF, philosophy

Abstract

Recently, scholars have argued that disability activists' redefinition of disability' as a social problem, rather than a medical problem, is maleficent, unjust, and inconsistent. It seems that the discussion on whether disability is a medical or a social category is not settled and that disability is an essentially contested concept. However, the question is: What is the social aspect in disability? It appears that there is some confusion as to what the social is in a social definition of disability. The article pursues possible reasons for this confusion by investigating the critique of the social model. This is followed by a discussion on what a possible space for the social might be in a social definition of disability. Such a space is illuminated by using the framework of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF). The article suggests that disability as a social category is not inconsistent if reframed within a social relational model of disability.

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Published

2010-01-01

How to Cite

Reindal, S. M. (2010). Redefining disability: a rejoinder to a critique. Etikk I Praksis - Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics, 4(1), 125-135. https://doi.org/10.5324/eip.v4i1.1744

Issue

Section

Åpen del - Open section