Rk. Scotch et K. Schriner, DISABILITY AS HUMAN VARIATION - IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 549, 1997, pp. 148-159
Citations number
15
Categorie Soggetti
Political Science","Social, Sciences, Interdisciplinary
The impact of any disability policy depends on the conceptual model of
disability upon which that policy rests. For the past quarter century
of disability policymaking, culminating in the passage of the America
ns with Disabilities Act of 1990, the dominant paradigm of disability
has been a minority group model. That model identifies discrimination
as the primary barrier facing people with disabilities in their desire
for full social participation, and it proposes civil rights strategie
s as the proper policy response to that barrier. An alternative model
of disability based on the concept of human variation is proposed that
implies additional strategies for achieving the goal of integration o
f people with disabilities. The utility of a human variation model is
illustrated by its application to the issue of access to employment.