Barnes & Mercer - Disability culture: Assimilation or inclusion?
Barnes, C., Mercer G. (2001). Disability culture: Assimilation or inclusion? In Albrecht G. L., Seelman K., Bury M. (Eds.), Handbook of disability studies (pp. 515–534). Sage Publications.
Since the 1970s, a disabled people's movement has become established as a political force worldwide. It has confronted the orthodox view that disability should be defined in terms of individual impairment that requires medical treatment. In contrast, disability theory and practice argue that this movement arises from society's failure to remove the wide-ranging social, economic, and environmental barriers that underpin the social exclusion of disabled people and the denial of their basic citizenship rights-what has been termed a social model of disability (Finkelstein 1980; Oliver 1983, 1990). This has been complemented by concerted campaigns against the negative stereotypes contained in media and cultural representations. The politicization of disabled people has also highlighted the significance of an alternative disability culture, which celebrates a positive disabled identity and consciousness.
This chapter has four main objectives:
1. to review the analysis of culture and its relationship to society, the economy, and politics;
2. to outline the representation of disability in mainstream culture;
3. to explore the generation of disability cultures;
4. to examine the development of the disability arts movement and its implications for disability culture.
These issues are illustrated with examples from both U.K. and U.S. cultures.
Barnes & Mercer “Disability culture: Assimilation or inclusion?”