According to Dickerson (1991), an intellectual disability is the “significant sub-average general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behaviours, and manifested during the developmental period” (p.21).
The social model of disability accentuates that disability is socially constructed by the interaction between the cultural and structural aspects of society (Bigby, &Frawley, 2010, p. 12).This is backed up by Oliver (1996), who states that it is not the impairment that causes disability, but instead it is society that disables people through negative attitudes, individual prejudice, segregated education, exclusion from services and denial of rights.
Individuals with an intellectual disability are also often
In the words of Lennard Davis in the first page of Introduction: Normality, Power, and Culture, “The ‘problem’ is not the person with the disability, it is the way that normalcy is constructed to create the ‘problem’ of the disabled person,” (Davis 1). Everyone is different and to impose an idea of what is an expected or acceptable by labeling those who don’t conform as disadvantaged or handicapped, is artificial and
The article “Reflections on the Latimer Case: The Rationale for a Disability Rights Lens” written by Yvonne Peters analyses the murder of Tracy Latimer by her father, Robert Latimer. A summary of the historical context and implications of the rights of disabled people and how they impact the Latimer case is discussed, as well as an analysis of the author’s claims. Additionally, a critique of Peters’ disability rights approach to the Latimer case will be offered. Also, Peter’s arguments will be assessed to determine if any counter arguments can be made opposing her position.
She argues that disability is not a natural aspect of the human body, but rather a socially and culturally created concept. Wendell gives the example of “ many women with disabilities are discouraged from having children because other people can only imagine caring for children in ways that are impossible for women with their disabilities” ( Wendell 39). She gives this example of people who have to resort to different ways of having children. This example gives the reader a good idea of one of the ways that people might be envisioned to have a disability. These examples also give the reader a great way to correlate what the reader is saying and give them a deeper understanding of what the author is trying to get across.
As Baynton discusses disability as a justification for inequality, I view it in the sense of a social concept of disability that sets the platform for discrimination and violence against the minority groups. This concept has been implemented in U.S. history to allow discriminatory practices against the minorities to occur. Basically, women, individuals from different races, and ethnic minorities were labeled as disabled as well to interpret inequality as a positive concept. For example, there was justification for slavery in which African Americans did not have the required intelligence which made them incapable of equality with other Americans. This assumption was ascribed to physical causes and differences that were visible in their race.
The main arguments that Davis Lennard has placed out for this introduction are the constructive views of normality versus disability. To summarize Lennard’s argument, he states that the majority of a population and/or society must be similar, to be recognized as “normal.” What is then “normal” is now seen as average, thus, creating a false illusion for one to “idealize” for something that is considered better than what is known as the average. And because we are constructed to have an ideal type of a body, we see a disabled body as the “problem,” even though that is not the case. Lennard states that the disabled body becomes a body that is less than an average body (aka normal body).
The largest advocacy group for the intellectually disabled, the Association for Retarded Citzens,is now simply ARC (Fairman). The term mental retardation is being replaced with intellectual disability by The Center for Disease Control and Prevention because this word has become so taboo. People have managed to turn innocent words into hateful speech so much so that professional establishments and groups will no longer use those words because they are deemed as a negative term. Even if someone disagrees with Fairman’s argument about not banning certain words, his paper and his assumptions are acceptable because people have heard for themselves just how these words are being used
World Health Organization (WHO) has defined disability as an umbrella term for impairments. Disability is an individual with a health condition such as Down syndrome cerebral palsy and depression, body functioning or structure on activity limitation. WHO, (2016) supported that people with learning difficulties they deserve privacy and dignity like everyone The Health and community Care Act 1990 protect people service users from abuse or neglect so that deterioration can be prevented or to promote physical or mental health and to allow independence and social inclusion. It also to improve opportunities and life chances, to help families and to protect human rights around people in need of the services. It has been argued Department of health, (2015) state that “people are living longer, which means there are likely to be more people with complex
The medical model of disability started to dominate individuals views of disability within the 19th and the 20th century. It looks at a person and focuses on the impairment they may have caused them to be disabled, and therefore preventing them from getting access to services or being able to participate in a number of things within society. An example of what the medical model believes is that if an individual is deaf they cannot communicate with other individuals. Or if an individual was restricted to a wheelchair it would be the wheelchairs fault that they could not go places that may have stairs rather than the stairs in question. They believed that the only way in which they can solve these problems is by finding the “defect” and curing
“Only 50 years ago persons with intellectual disabilities were scorned, isolated and neglected. Today, they are able to attend school, become employed and assimilate into their local community” (Nelson Mandela). Prior to the later part of the 20th century people with intellectual disabilities were often ridiculed, treated unfairly, feared, and locked away in institutions. According to Rhonda Nauhaus and Cindy Smith in their article Disability Rights through the Mid-20th Century, The laws of any nation reflect its societal values. The real life issue of discrimination towards people with intellectual disabilities in the United States and Australia is demonstrated in the novel, Of Mice and Men by showing how this issue affects one of the main characters, Lennie Smalls.
In “The Social Construction of Disability,” Susan Wendell briefly discusses how the fast pace of American life impacts the social construction of disability through an inability for people with “disabilities” to maintain expectations of a high-performance level. Wendell also claims that the pace of life causes disability in many people’s lives, but quickly moves on to another topic, referencing chapter four of Barbara Hillyer’s Feminism and Disability in the footnotes as a place for more information on this argument. In Hillyer’s chapter “Productivity and Pace,” she writes to the feminist and disability communities, analyzing how the pace of life affects them both in similar ways. Through an analysis of how people with disabilities are forced to set their own daily pace, Hillyer hopes to encourage others to learn about the necessity of slowing down.
Intellectual disability is a disability that has a number of limitations both in intellectual function which may include reasoning, learning, problem solving, and in adaptive behavior. Adaptive behavior covers a range of everyday social and practical skills. Melody was wrongly diagnosed with an Intellectual disability by a doctor to see how smart she was to be put into school. According to the text the doctor said,” Mrs. Brooks…it is my opinion that melody is severely brain-damaged and profoundly retarded.”
Reading is an essential life skill. The ultimate goal of reading is to comprehend and make meaningful connections with text. Therefore, the development of skills needed for reading begins at an early age and progresses through stages into adulthood (Chall, 1996). Within the early stages of reading development, children begin learning and acquiring these specific skills. Moreover, many of the skills learned during early childhood are constrained skills.
It is known that people with disabilities rarely seek that label themselves, but they are considered one of the most discriminated groups. “They are often segregated from other people, have fewer employment opportunities, earn lower incomes, are less likely to marry, have fewer social relationships and experience fewer community and leisure activities. ”(Davidson, Smith & Burns, 2014) In 2000 Gillman raised the possibility that by the process of giving a learning disability diagnosis it can build the individual as powerless and that “a new and stigmatized social identity is simultaneously made salient for the participant. “ There is research on how mainstream populations feel after taking a cognitive assessment, there is also research on how it affects people with dementia,
In this report I will discuss both the Social and Medical Models, define their pros and cons and give a short reflection on my own opinion of the two models in everyday use today. Both the medical and the social models of disability describe how they see disability and how they feel disabilities and those suffering should be treated. Both models have very different views on the causes of, how disabilities should be taken care of and by whom and both have their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to caring for those with disabilities. Medical Model
The social model of disability, on the other hand, focuses on the environmental factors and the availability of support structures