Disability studies: A historical materialist view

Abstract

This paper presents an historical materialist view of recent accounts of disability in Western societies. This view is presented in two main parts: first, as an in-depth appraisal of the field of disability studies, and secondly, as an outline for an alternative, historical materialist account of disablement. The critical assessment of disability studies finds that recent accounts of disability are in the main seriously deficient in terms of both epistemology and historiography (though some important exceptions are identified). In particular, four specific areas of theoretical weakness are identified: theoretical superficiality, idealism, the fixation with normality, and an unwillingness to ..