Transcript PowerPoint – Carol Thomas

Contested ideas about disability,
illness and identity in Sociology and
Disability Studies
Carol Thomas
Centre for Disability Research (CeDR)
Lancaster University
Medical Sociology
 Coping with a changed sense of self in the social world – personal identity
change and ascribed identity change.
 Altered social relationships and interactions within families and among close
friends: coping, adjusting, adapting by small groups of people.
 Managing medical encounters and adjusting to changed life circumstances associated with drug regimes, prostheses and ‘mobility aides’ etc. etc.
 Intimate coping and managing of a changed body – dealing with what it could
and couldn’t do.
Social deviance paradigm in medical
sociology
BUT different theoretical camps did adopt varied
moral and political stances: - some were
sympathetic to the ‘suffering’ associated with
being disabled/deviant in society, while others
SHARED in viewing ill and disabled people as
ABNORMAL DEVIANTS – people of lesser worth
and social value.
Social oppression paradigm in
Disability Studies
It is society’s view and response to ‘disability’
that creates the problems and barriers that
disabled people encounter – whether they have
physical, sensory, intellectual or emotional
impairments or long-term illnesses.
Social model of disability
In the broadest sense, the social model of disability is about nothing more
complicated than a clear focus on the economic, environmental and
cultural barriers encountered by people who are viewed by others as
having some form of impairment – whether physical, mental or
intellectual. The barriers disabled people encounter include inaccessible
education systems, working environments, inadequate disability benefits,
discriminatory health and social support services, inaccessible transport,
houses and public buildings and amenities, and the devaluing of disabled
people through negative images in the media – films, television, and
newspapers. (Oliver, 2004: 21).
Contested ideas
Social deviance perspective
Coping with loss, suffering,
biographical disruption, identity
change.
Social oppression perspective
Challenging disablism: like
challenging sexism, racism,
homophobia, ageism.
Encourage new ideas…..
• Intersectionality
• Experiences
• Global south and north – picture, Bolivia 2012
• Theoretical perspectives
e.g. critical disability studies