Summary
Contents
Subject index
The SAGE Handbook of Social Work is the world's first generic major reference work to provide an authoritative guide to the theory, method, and values of social work in one volume. Drawn from an international field of excellence, the contributors each offer a critical analysis of their individual area of expertise. The result is this invaluable resource collection that not only reflects upon the condition of social work today but also looks to future developments.
Disability
Disability
People with atypical conditions and attributes labelled as disabilities have been present from humanity's beginnings. For millennia, people and communities defined the meaning and subsequent treatment of people with atypical physical and behavioural attributes according to local beliefs and customs. With the development of organised societies, beliefs about people who were ‘different’ from the mainstream evolved and generalised to larger communities, usually with negative implications. However, in the 19th century, the foundation was laid that led to a collective identity for people with physical, behavioural, mental, and sensory atypicalities (Mackelprang, 2010a). This chapter introduces readers to historical and contemporary perspectives on disabilities. It addresses the place of disability in the world and the responsibilities, opportunities, and challenges faced by the social work profession in working with disability and disabled persons.
Defining Disability
Definitions of disability diverge widely and the incidence and prevalence are difficult to estimate. For example, learning disabilities may qualify individuals for extended test-taking time, but not be considered disabilities in qualifying one for government supports. In a society in which eyeglasses are readily available, a visual impairment may not be considered a disability, whereas it may be a severe disability when corrective lenses are not available for people to engage in everyday life tasks. Of course, definition difficulties are common when attempting to define other diversities as well. For example, Barak Obama is widely considered to be African-American, yet he was raised by his Caucasian mother's family. Definitions relative to gender identity, sexual orientation, as well as disability are far from universal.
In a report for the World Bank, Mont (2007) states prevalence estimates range from 1% in Kenya to 20% in New Zealand. He contends how one measures disability is dependent on the purposes for measuring. Nagi (1969) provided a framework for defining disability containing four elements: (i) pathology interrupting physical or mental processes; (ii) impairment limiting a person's ability to function possibly resulting in; (iii) functional limitation relative to the ability to perform or engage in life tasks; and (iv) disability or the inability to perform socially expected activities. In 1980, the World Health Organization's International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps (ICIDH), provided a framework joining disease and disability, defining them as internal conditions. However, the latter part of the 20th century saw challenges to these deeply seated beliefs defining disability as internal pathology. For example, the policy of the New Zealand Ministry of Health, Office of Disability Issues (2001) seeking to create an inclusive society states:
Disability is not something individuals have. What individuals have are impairments. They may be physical, sensory, neurological, psychiatric, intellectual or other impairments. Disability is the process which happens when one group of people create barriers by designing a world only for their way of living, taking no account of the impairments other people have (p. 7).
The first major United Nations human rights initiative of the 21st century, the 2007 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, represents a marked a paradigm shift to a civil rights approach to disability (United Nations, 2007a). The UN
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