Social construction of disability

The social construction of disability is the idea that society and its institutions have the power to construct disability around social expectations of health.[1]

This idea argues that disability is construction based on several localized social expectations. For example, in the medieval period disability was constructed around a person's moral behavior. Disability was seen as divine punishment or a side effect of a moral failing being physically or biologically different was not enough to be considered disabled. Only until the European Enlightenment did society change its definition of disability to be more related to biology.However these biological definitions of health centered around what is considered to be healthy for most Western Europeans.[2]

History

Around the year 1970, in North America various groups including sociologists, disabled people, and disabled focused political groups began to pull away from the accepted medical lens of viewing disability.These groups began to discuss things like oppression, civil rights, and accessibility. This change in discourse resulted in conceptualizations of disability that was rooted in social constructions.[2]

Overview

Canada and the United States have operated under the premise that social assistance benefits should not exceed the amount of money that can be earned through labor in order to give citizens an incentive to search for and maintain employment. This has led to widespread poverty amongst disabled citizens. In the 1950s, disability pensions were established and included various forms of direct economic assistance; however, these amounts were set at exceedingly low monetary levels. Since the 1970s, both governments have viewed unemployed disabled citizens as excess labor due to continuous high rates of unemployment and have made minimal attempts to increase employment, which keeps disabled people at poverty- level incomes due to the ‘incentive’ principle. Poverty is the most debilitating circumstance handicapped people face, resulting in the inability to afford proper medical, technological and other assistance necessary to participate in society.[3]

Laws and public policy

Laws have helped to recognize disability as a social construct rather than simply physical impairment. In 1776, the Continental Congress passed the first national law regarding wounded soldiers. Rather than stating attitudes towards disability, the act proposed that how the US viewed disability was closely linked to its views about the worth of the soldiers. This segment of the Act contains a few inferences which relate to disability:

"Whereas, in the course of the present war, some commissioned and non-commissioned officers of the army and navy, as also private soldiers, marines, and seamen, may lose a limb, or be otherwise so disabled as to prevent their serving in the army or navy, or getting their livelihood, and may stand in need of relief[.]"[4]

Although this resolution related disability to “getting a livelihood,” it also implies through the recognition of an additional connection to serving in the military that disability is not just a failure to function properly but rather built systemically through the ability to function in certain settings. Also, this resolution states that disability is not only based upon physical capabilities and societal roles but social aspects as well.

Over the past 150 years, people with disabilities were barely acknowledged in the creation of telecommunication. One little known fact is that when Alexander Graham Bell first invented the telephone he intended to create it for the use of deaf people. Many people are unaware of this fact because most financial and political decisions in our society are made by people who are not disabled. Eventually, installing phones in every building in most Western countries became a nationwide goal. However, these phones were virtually impossible for deaf people to use. Also, accessibility to telecommunication is an important factor in aiding the disabled, thereby considerations such as making payphones large enough to accommodate wheelchairs and telephones with large buttons to aid people with dexterity problems. Accessibility to telecommunications was not a major concern until the 1990s with the creation of the mobile phone and the 1996 Telecommunications Act which ensured that all telecommunication technology be available to disabled people. However, this Act did not ensure that disabled people could gain access to these technologies. This quote by Goggin and Newell explains the effect of the old telecommunication technology and the new technology such as mobile phones on the social construction of disability: “Not only are our scientific and technological enquiries (sic) manifestly both very productive and very destructive, but we will inevitably come to depend on them to resolve the very contradictions they have created.” The creation of the mobile phone in the 1990s both opened and closed doors for the disabled. With the creation of text messaging, the deaf were finally able to enter into the world of telecommunication. However, a disadvantage of the second generation mobile phones was that they caused hearing aid malfunctions due to a high level of electromagnetic interference. The phones would cause hearing aids to emit a buzzing noise which made if extremely difficult to hear and communicate. If the phone companies would have considered disability in the creation of the new phones, this would not have been a problem. However since this was not the case, the companies were forced to consider redesigning the phones. Thus, the wireless access protocol (WAP) was manufactured, a 2.5 G (generational) mobile phone and then the 3G phone. However, the 3 G phone has also proven to cause some interference with hearing aids and also because the phone is a smaller in size it can be harder to operate for disabled people. In addition, voice-mail, automatic answering, call progression announcements and the internet are unhelpful to the visually impaired as they require sight to be able to operate.[5]

Video description is another tool used to incorporate the disabled in society, specifically those who are visually handicapped. It is a pause in audio used to describe “key visual elements.” Video description is a further development of audio description, developed in the 1970s and early 1980s, which was a verbal description of sporting events, movies, art works, museums, theater, and other events. In July 2000, The FCC created rules regarding video description. In a press release by FCC Chairman William Kennard, video description was used in a screening of Star Wars. Kennard made note of the fact that people “with visual disabilities watch television in similar numbers and with similar frequency to the general population,” and that disabilities need to be more acknowledged, especially since 8 to 12 million Americans have visual impairments. Thus, the FCC ordered that the “top four commercial broadcast TV networks in the top twenty-five TV markets” offer “fifty hours per calendar quarter of prime-time and/or children’s programming with video description.” [6]

Before captioning, it was either impossible or very difficult for people with hearing impairments to watch television or videos. Captioning TV programs means that the audio is displayed as text on the screen. There are two types of captioning: open and closed. In 1970, the first open captioning with visible video picture was used in which captioning was shown to every viewer. In order to reduce oppositions to captioning, closed captioning was created. Closed captioning is positioned at the bottom of the screen beneath the speakers and calls for a decoder. Closed captioning is synchronized with speech and also transcribes sound such as laughter while open captioning does not require a decoder and captioning is continuously displayed. The 1990 Television Decoder Circuitry Act was the first act which recognized captioning. Due to this act, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commanded that all television broadcast receivers with screen sizes greater than 13 inches and manufactured or imported on or after July 1, 1993, be capable of receiving and displaying closed captions. Although these televisions were now capable of using captions, there still was no rule stating that captioning must be used other than for federally-funded public service announcements (authorized in the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act). Because captions were not required, many stations refused to display them, so in 1995 the FCC asked for an inquiry. However, the inquiry was succeeded by the reforms foreshadowed by the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which intended to ensure that all Americans with hearing and visual disabilities were able to access video services. The 1996 Telecommunications Act instructed the FCC to investigate if proper video programming conditions for those with hearing and visual disabilities were being met. After the investigation, the FCC created rules and implementation schedules to ensure that people with disabilities were being accommodated. In April 2000, another rule was adopted that requires broadcasters, cable operators, and other multichannel video programming distributors to make local emergency information accessible to people with hearing impairments. Finally, hearing-disabled people could participate like the rest of society in video and TV entertainment, proving that physical impairment can be overcome by making societal accommodations.[7]

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) is a prime example of how laws have changed the societal roles of disabled people. The Act was signed by President Bush in July 1990. It prohibited the discrimination of disabled people by employers and also required that mass transportation, commercial buildings and public accommodations be accessible to disabled people. After the law was passed, Congress realized that many people with disabilities were secluded from society and could not live independently. Before the ADA was made into a law, disabled people could not land a job, enter a restaurant or store, or access the bus. A 1986 poll revealed that 66 percent of disabled citizens were jobless, in spite of the fact that many proclaimed they desired and were capable of employment. The same poll showed that 40 percent of handicapped people could not find a job due to the inaccessibility of transportation and public places. As a result of implementation of the ADA, 6 million private businesses and 80,000 state and local governments made their facilities available to the disabled. In July 1992, the provisions of the Act incorporating 43 million disabled individuals in to the workforce were set into motion. Many business owners realized that the changes made to their establishment were of little financial consequence, typically under $500. The conditions of disabled people before and after this law was passed are examples of how society constructs disability through discrimination and physical barriers. By eliminating these obstacles, the disabled are more integrated into society.[8]

The failure to provide Medicaid to all disabled citizens creates situations such as the incident in Wisconsin, where hundreds were put into nursing homes. Wisconsin 1996: hundreds of disabled people faced the possibility of entering nursing homes due to a cap on funding for community-based services such as personal-attendant care. If anyone’s home care cost exceeded the cap, they were to be placed in a residential-care facility. The incidence in Wisconsin is an example of the change federal and state governments handle Medicaid, a program which delivers health care to poor, elderly, and disabled Americans. A memo from Wisconsin’s Department of Health and Social Services explained “taxpayers can no longer afford open-ended Medicaid entitlements. For the first time in recent history, Medicaid recipients must make the same choices about care setting as private pay individuals.” Nursing homes are not environments which help people live actively outside the building. In other words, they are much more socially isolated, which socially constructs disability.[9]

Assessment of disability

In the United States, according to the Social Security Administration, to be considered "disabled," a claimant must provide medical evidence displaying proof of and severity of the impairment(s). Medical evidence comes from sources that have treated or evaluated the claimant for his/her impairment(s). Acceptable medical sources include medical professionals including licensed physicians, licensed or certified psychologists, licensed optometrists (only for purposes of establishing visual disorders), licensed podiatrists (only for purposes of establishing impairments of the foot and/or ankle), and qualified speech-language pathologists (only for purposes of establishing speech or language impairments). Qualified speech-language pathologists must be licensed by the State education in the State in which he/she practices, or hold a Certificate of clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.[10]

Applying for disability (and the assessment of) can take place in person at the Social Security field office, by telephone, by mail, or by filing online. The application process involves supplying a description of the impairment, treatment sources, and other information. A field office then verifies non-medical eligibility requirement (including age, employment, marital status, or Social Security coverage information) and sends the case to the state agency (Disability Determination Services, or DDS) for evaluation (DDS are state agencies that develop medical evidence and deciding whether or not a claimant - the person requesting disability benefits - is disabled or blind under the law).[11]

Cultural

Paralympics

Since the invention of the television in the early 1900s, this medium has held a pervasive influence on our outlook on many aspects of society, disability being one of them. One example is how the 2000 Paralympics versus the Olympics were televised. The 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games, one of the biggest in history, was barely acknowledged by mainstream media prior to the event. The Sydney Paralympic organizers worked extensively to try to solicit coverage of the Games. For more than two years, they negotiated with Channel 7 to broadcast the competitions. Channel 7 proposed that if the Paralympics paid them $3 million in case of lack of advertising revenue they would agree to broadcast the event. Eventually, the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) and Channel 7 announced they would be broadcasting the Games and Channel 7 would “complement” the coverage with a highlights package that ran daily on its pay-tv Channel. ABC also promised to broadcast at least 60 minutes of daily highlights. Later on, ABC finally agreed to air a live broadcast of the opening and closing ceremonies. The opening and closing ceremonies were actually quite popular amongst viewers, watched by 2.5 million; however the rest of the games proved to be quite the opposite. While the Olympics were covered live throughout the entire event, the Paralymics apparently was not important enough to deserve the same live coverage before the initial showing. By deeming the disabled to be less important than those without disabilities and by separating the Olympics and Paralympics, disability is socially constructed.[12]

Technology

Over the last several decades, technology has transformed networks, services, and communication, and promoted convergence of telecommunications, computer use, etc. Technology changes, or, the Digital Revolution, has changed how people work, learn, and interact. The digital revolution has directed people to use computers, cell phones, and other technologies more and more. However, many people who use such technology experience a form of disability. Even if it is not physically visible, those with, for example, cognitive impairments, hand tremors, vision impairments, have some form of disability that don't allow them to be able to fully access technology the way that those without a "technological disability" do.

Education

Special education "...is a social construction whereby a society can label a group in order to isolate responsibility for that group's welfare and thereby protect normal sources of power. In education, society has created many social categories, including learning disabilities. Such social categories represent the structure of society. The success of special educations students who have learning disabilities seems to be measured in material terms; but if they don't have the opportunity to achieve this success, it is hard to turn to the American community for support, as so many people in this community condemn them for their differences.

Thus, education tries to restore the idea of a moral community, one in which the members question what constitutes a good life, to form a reconceptualization of education, where physical and mental conditions would be seen as part of a range of abilities, where different talents were distributed in different ways, and all talents would be recognized. All students would be included in the educational network instead of being set apart as special cases, and it would be acknowledged that all humans have special needs and no one is normal.[13]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Freidson, Eliot (1970). Profession of Medicine: A Study of the Sociology of Applied Knowledge. Harper and Row Inc. pp. 205–207. ISBN 0-06-042205-X.
  2. 1 2 Davis, Lennard (2006). The Disability Studies Reader. Routledge 2nd edition. p. 197. ISBN 0415953340.
  3. ↑ .Wendell, Wendell (1996). The Social Construction of Disability (PDF). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. p. 60.
  4. ↑ Liachowitz, Claire (1988). Disability as a Social Construct. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN 0-8122-8134-9.
  5. ↑ Goggin, pp. 43, 49-51
  6. ↑ Goggin, pp. 97-98
  7. ↑ Goggin, pp. 96-97
  8. ↑ Stalcup, pp. 17, 23, 25
  9. ↑ Stalcup, pp. 72, 75
  10. ↑ "Disability Evaluation Under Social Security Part II - Evidentiary Requirements.". The United States Social Security Administration. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  11. ↑ "Disability Evaluation Under Social Security Part I - General Information.". The United States Social Security Administration. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  12. ↑ Goggin, p.91
  13. ↑ Capper, Colleen (July 1993). Educational Administration in a Pluralistic Society. State University of New York Pr. pp. 173–174, 176–177. ISBN 978-0791413739.

Bibliography

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