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Developing a model of disability that focuses on the actions of disabled people
Levitt, Jonathan M.
Levitt, Jonathan M.
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2017-05-25
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Abstract
Disabled people, writers on disability and disability activists stress the importance of disabled people being included in all aspects of society. I argue that a major omission from this inclusiveness, is that no current model of disability focuses on the impact of the actions of disabled people on disability. Disabled people are not passive bystanders, powerless to reduce the restrictions of disability. On the contrary, we are central to actively limiting its constraints. I develop a model of disability, called ‘active’, which focuses on the effects on disability of the individual and collective actions of disabled people. I describe published findings which indicate that engaging in self-help, using support groups and deploying assistive technology can all reduce the limitations of disability. Recent increases in the number of disability support groups and developments in assistive technology have substantially augmented the potential for disabled people to combat the effects of disability.
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Levitt, JM. (2017) 'Developing a model of disability that focuses on the actions of disabled people', Disability & Society, 32 (5) pp. 735-747
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Journal article
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en
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This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Disability & Society on 25/05/2017, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2017.1324764
The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.
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0968-7599