Introduction: Disorienting Disability

Disorient, disoriented, disorienting. We use these words when we’ve lost our way, when we feel confused, when we’re bewildered, when there is a lack of connection or things do not make sense—or perhaps they once made sense and then ceased to do so. What, then, does it mean to disorient disability? B...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The South Atlantic quarterly 2019-07, Vol.118 (3), p.483
Main Authors: Friedner, Michele, Weingarten, Karen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Disability
Disability studies
Disorders
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Disorient, disoriented, disorienting. We use these words when we’ve lost our way, when we feel confused, when we’re bewildered, when there is a lack of connection or things do not make sense—or perhaps they once made sense and then ceased to do so. What, then, does it mean to disorient disability? Before we answer that question, we need to ask another: what is disability when it’s not disoriented? The general direction of disability studies has argued for viewing disability as a social, cultural, and political construction that is defined by the interaction of physical environments, political and economic structures, and social interactions with individual bodily impairments. While emerging interactionally, disability as a concept and experience is explained through the medical and social models of disability, models that catalyzed the field and with which scholars still continue to grapple.
ISSN:0038-2876
1527-8026
DOI:10.1215/00382876-7616115