disability studies

This book places the issue of disability squarely in a social context and considers the implications of this view for the provision of services and for social work practice. In so doing, it starts from the ways in which disabled people have re-defined disability as a social rather than an individual problem and the influence that their organizations have had on service provision. It discusses the implications of this in a variety of different settings and across the life cycle.

There is a wealth of evidence that disabled people experience far higher levels of unemployment and underemployment than non-disabled peers. Yet hitherto sociologists have paid scant attention to the structural causes of this issue. Drawing on a socio/political or social model of disability perspective this paper argues for a reconfiguration of the meaning of disability and work in order to address this problem. It is also suggested that such a strategy will make a significant contribution to the struggle for a fairer and equitable global society.

Endangered life is often used to justify humanitarian media intervention, but what if suffering humanity is both the fuel and outcome of such media representations? Pooja Rangan argues that this vicious circle is the result of immediation, a prevailing documentary ethos that seeks to render human suffering urgent and immediate at all costs. Rangan interrogates this ethos in films seeking to “give a voice to the voiceless,” an established method of validating the humanity of marginalized subjects, including children, refugees, autistics, and animals.

On the heels of Woodstock, a group of teen campers are inspired to join the fight for disability civil rights. A spirited look at grassroots activism.