The social model of disability: An outdated ideology?

Abstract

The papers explore the background to British academic and political debates over the social model, and argue that the time has come to move beyond this position. Three central criticisms of the British social model are presented, focusing on: the issue of impairment; the impairment/disability dualism; and the issue of identity. It is suggested that an embodied ontology offers the best starting point for disability studies, and some signposts on the way to a more adequate social theory of disability are provided.

Citation

Shakespeare, T. and Watson, N. (2001), "The social model of disability: An outdated ideology?", Barnartt, S.N. and Altman, B.M. (Ed.) Exploring Theories and Expanding Methodologies: Where we are and where we need to go (Research in Social Science and Disability, Vol. 2), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 9-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3547(01)80018-X