Social Construction of Disability

Medical Aspects

Disability can be explained as an objective, medically based phenomenon or as a subjective, socially constructed phenomenon. Both perspectives have an aspect of subjectivity because disability refers to one's “inability” in relation to those who are abled. Social construction of disability allows one to shift away from viewing ability as normal toward questioning what social and environmental factors make some abled while others are disabled. By definition, individuals with disabilities have a different way of physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially experiencing and making meaning of the world. Their perceptions and priorities may be different from what is deemed “normal.” Does this mean the individual is disabled or differently abled?

The disability rights movement has highlighted the need to examine disability through a new lens in order [Page 723]to change perceptions of individuals with disabilities. Historically, disability has been viewed from a medical perspective, suggesting that disability is an absolute condition that creates boundaries for what people are able to do and achieve. Thus, individuals with disabilities have been viewed from a deficit perspective of their inabilities and experience lowered expectations in relation to their able-bodied, able-minded peers. According to the disability rights movement, the med-icalization of disability creates an illusion that an individual's abilities or disabilities set parameters on what they can and cannot do.

For example, the deaf community asserts that a person's inability to hear and use oral language is a cultural phenomenon because it shapes how such individuals understand and interact, in contrast with the conventional oral or auditory emphasis in the hearing world. Deaf individuals are more reliant on visuals and use manual language to communicate and interact with their world; their language is more conceptual, with hand shapes serving as the foundation for grammar and morphology. When compared to the societal norms of the hearing world, individuals who are deaf continue to be viewed as “dis-abled” in relation to those who are hearing. However, when hearing persons enter the deaf world, they experience an “in-abil-ity” or “dis-ability” in relation to their “hearing-ness” or reliance on auditory stimulation and oral communication rather than use of manual language.

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