Keywords For Disability Analysis

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In this weeks reading, the concept of defining disability is often times determined by external oppressive socio-material structures that affect the individuals that identify as being ‘disabled’. It is through an understanding of ethics, the language of oppression, eugenics and disability studies that we can understand the socio-material structures that built the concept and identity of being ‘disabled’. In todays society the medical and rehabilitation model of normalizing disabled individuals fuels the categorization and pathology of those individuals. This is furthered through the negative connotation given to disability, for instance, an individual labeled as ‘disabled’ is thought of as in suffering or in pain. Disability is determined by …show more content…

According to Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s article Eugenics in the book Keywords for Disability Studies, Garland-Thomson discusses that the concept of disability is born from eugenics and the desire to control the composition of a population. Eugenics developed over time through tribes and other cultures through rape, killing, war, etc. with it developed the concept of what counted as being ‘disabled’. Such methods emerged as a way to sterilize a population and to control a community. Much of today’s society focuses upon normalization of those with disabilities. With the recent technological advancements in medical treatments, society has often coined being ‘disabled’ as a negative term. According to Rachel Adams in the article Disability, Adams discusses that the term ‘disability’ is dependent upon sociological ideologies as much as it is dependent upon bodily conditions. In today’s society new technological advancements such as prenatal screening encourages the elimination of human traits to reduce suffering (Adams 6). Currently the Americans with Disability Act counters some of the eugenic practices in todays society by encouraging open public spaces for disability users and