Disability as a fluid state: Introduction

Abstract

Disability is often described in a way that suggests that it is most often a permanent state. Several, if not most, of the concepts and models of disability suggest this. Even when it is described as being socially constructed, the implication is that an impairment leads to a permanent status of “disabled” within that social, cultural, or historical milieu. However, many types of changes can be seen on an intrapsychic level or on an individual or group/societal level; across time, cultures, societies, and subcultures; or within or across any other social unit. The relationship between impairment (physical state) and disability is neither fixed nor permanent but is fluid and not easily predicted. Furthermore, if this is true, we need to rethink how we are measuring or counting disability.

The chapters in this volume examine this premise from many points of view. Several look at micro-level interactional processes over time, some look at cultural change over time and their effects on definitions and measurements, and some look at how social processes shape physical conditions into disabilities or impairments/disabilities into “normality.”

Citation

Barnartt, S.N. (2010), "Disability as a fluid state: Introduction", Barnartt, S.N. (Ed.) Disability as a Fluid State (Research in Social Science and Disability, Vol. 5), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3547(2010)0000005003