Disability, Society, and the Individual

This unique book provides a comprehensive examination of the disability experience. The content focuses on definitions of disability, societal response to people with disabilities, and the experience of disability from the perspectives of individuals with disability. It is organized around broad themes rather than disability categories.

With an engaging writing style and extensive and completely updated references, Disability, Society, and the Individual-Third Edition prepares the reader to understand and be able to use complex, important new ideas surrounding disability_its experience and social and cultural context. The text includes discussion questions, learning activities, suggested readings, and first-person accounts.

Content

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations and Terms

Introduction

SECTION 1: DEFINITIONS OF DISABILITY

  1. Defining Disability

    The Universality of Disability, or Disability Is a Natural Part of Everyone's Life

    Does Anyone Know What "Normal" Is?

    Categorizing Disabilities

    Does Everyone Have a Disability of Some Sort?

    There Are More Disabilities Than Ever Before

    Challenges in Counting Disabilities

    Six Reasons for Increases in Disability Rates

    Summary

  2. Chapter 2: Models of Disability: The Religious-Moral Model, the Biomedical Model, the Environmental Model, the Functional Model, and the Sociopolitical Model

    What Are Models of Disability?

    The Religious-Moral Model of Disability

    The Biomedical Model of Disability

    The Environmental Model of Disability

    The Functional Model of Disability

    The Sociopolitical Model of Disability

    Comparison of the Five Models

    Equal Opportunity Under the Law: The Americans With Disabilities Act

    The Five Titles of the ADA and AADA

    Resistance to the ADA

    Results of the ADA

    Changes Enacted in the ADAAA

    Talking About Disability

    Labels That Attempt to Describe All Those Different From the Majority

    SECTION 2: SOCIETY AND DISABILITY

  3. Prejudice Against People With Disabilities, Part 1

    The Salience of the Perceived Defining Nature of the Disability, or "It's Not All About My Legs"

    The Inferred Emotional Consequence of the Disability, or Difficult Does Not Mean Tragic

    The Handicapism of Well-Intentioned People

    Spread or Overgeneralization

    Findings of the Americans with Disabilities Act

    Prejudice and Discrimination Against PWDs 118

    The ADA'S "Report Card"

    PWDs as "Burdens" or "Drains"

    Perceptions of the Disability That May Be Associated With Prejudice

    Are Disabilities Viewed as Diversity or as Deviance?

    Hierarchy of Stigma

  4. Prejudice Against People with Disabilities, Part 2: Today in the United States

    The Media's Portrayal of People With Disabilities

    Crime, Abuse, and People With Disabilities

    Practices that Promote Prejudice and Discrimination

    Four Societal Responses to Disability

    What Is Justice?

  5. Experiencing Prejudice and Discrimination (Handicapism)

    Stereotyping

    Pity

    Role Entrapment

    Lowered Expectations, or "Let's Give Those Poor Disabled People a Break" Lack of Privacy

    Hypervisibility and Over-observation

    Solo Status

    Token Status

    Paternalism

    Infantilization

    Viewing PWDs as Objects

    Viewing PWDs as Animals

    Unnecessary Dependence

    SECTION 3: THE INDIVIDUAL AND DISABILITY

  6. The Individual's Response to Disability

    View From the Outside Versus Life on the Inside

    Acceptance of Disability or Response to Disability

    What Is a Good Response to a Disability?

    What Is a Poor Response to a Disability?

    The Stage Model of Adaptation to Disability

    The Stages of Response in Disability

    Transcendence

    Advantages of the Stage Theory

    Cautions in Implementing the Stage Theory

    Appendix 6.A: First-Person Narratives of People With Disabilities

  7. The Onset and Diagnosis of the Disability

    Factors That Affect the Impact of the Onset of Disability

    Time of Onset

    Parents of Children With Congenital Disabilities

    Atypical Childhood Experiences

    Prelingual Deafness

    Congenital Blindness or Blindness Acquired in Infancy

    Residential Schools

    Acquired Disabilities

    The Developmental Stage of Acquisition

  8. Type of Onset and the Individuals Response

    Type of Onset

    The Impact of a Long Prediagnosis Period

    The Course of the Disability

    The Phases or Stages of the Course of a Disability

    The Four Types of Courses

    Degenerating Episodic Disabilities

    Communication Difficulties

    The Meaning of the Loss of Functioning

    Severity of the Disability

    Quality of Life

    Pain and Trauma of the Disability

    Chronic Pain

    More About Pain

  9. More on the Individual's Response to Disability

    The Degree of Stigma Directed Toward the Disability

    The Degree of Visibility of the Disability

    The Degree of Disfigurement of the Disability

    Disfigurements as Social Handicaps

    The Treatment of Individuals With Disfiguring Disabilities

    Autonomy, Independence, and Control

    The Importance of Support Groups

    Services

    Conclusion

    Epilogue

    References

    Author Index

    Subject Index

    About the Author