Disabilities

Children with disabilities remain in the shadows of disability theory and are also marginalized in childhood studies literature. While children with disabilities are arguably the purview of both fields, discussions of childhood and disability are confined to psychology and children’s literature. This entry offers an overview of dominant, or popular, knowledges of disability that frame how children with disability are socially constructed through language. This entry also offers an overview of major works on childhood and disability.

Medical Knowledges

Medical knowledges of disability are the dominant discourse through which parents come to know their child, often before the child is born. This is often problematic, as medical discourses have been developed to describe systems and problems, not to characterize people. The medical model of disability categorizes individuals ...

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