Download People labelled as disabled

People labelled as
disabled
• This is another example of a power relation in society, where a
dominant group is able to label a less powerful group, and can
create a self-fulfilling prophecy
Shakespeare and Barnes 1997
• Disabled people are labelled by society, social institutions and the
media as a group of people whose bodies do not work.
• Disabled people are defined as abnormal or deviant in some way.
• Disability is seen as something which should be avoided at all
costs.
• This is seen as the “medical model” of disability
Social Action Theory
• Social action theory advocates a social model of disability which
suggests that disabled people are “disabled by society”.
• Social attitudes are based on prejudicial stereotypes, the
government’s social policy assumes that physical impairment
results in dependency
Disabled by Society
• We learn who we are through how we are seen by others.
• If disabled people are constantly seen as weak and dependent,
with little status, then the individual may take on a disabled
identity so that they can successfully interact with doctors social
workers etc.
• Not encouraged to be independent – this creates a self-fulfilling
prophecy where the disabled person is actively disabled by
society.