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Disability and Society - A Reader

edited by Renu Addlakha, Stuart Blume, Patrick Devlieger, Osamu Nagase and Myriam Winance

to be published by Orient Longman, India, in September 2008

from the introduction by Wachara Riewpaiboon and Stuart Blume

… starting in the 1970s disabled scholars began to develop a radical critique of dominant conceptions of disability in which medicine played so central a role. For example, in 1990 Michael Oliver published The Politics of Disablement, in which he analysed the ways in which disability was defined as a problem of the individual, subject to the authority of medicine. And at the same time, he questioned the failure of the social sciences critically to address what this medical understanding of disability meant and what it excluded from consideration. Out of the research and writing of critical sociologists in Britain and in the USA (where Irving Zola was a key figure) emerged what is generally called the ‘social model’ of disability.

Over the past twenty years this has generated a substantial literature, much of it making use of the methods of qualitative social research. Narratives and life histories produced by disabled people themselves have a central place in this literature. This work has major implications for professionals in the rehabilitation field, for the social sciences, and –  the ultimate goal – for the full integration of disabled people into society. However almost all of it focuses on the traditions, practices and dilemmas of northern countries. There have been few attempts in southern countries to draw on this work, or to establish related traditions of emancipatory research.

In order to introduce this literature to rehabilitation professionals as well as to social scientists in Asian countries, the Thai Health Promotion of People with Disabilities Program commissioned the Innovia Foundation to produce a book of readings. The hope is that the book will inspire organizations of people with disabilities, service providers and researchers from various disciplines to work together. More information on the book will follow shortly.