Cultural Model Of Disability Research Articles

Analysis of Accessible Digital Musical Instruments through the lens of disability models: a case study with instruments targeting d/Deaf people

Music educators and researchers have grown increasingly aware of the need for traditional musical practices to promote inclusive music for disabled people. Inclusive music participation has been addressed by Accessible Digital Musical Instruments (ADMIs), which welcome different ways of playing and perceiving music, with considerable impact on music-making for disabled people. ADMIs offer exciting possibilities for instrument design to consider and incorporate individual constraints (e.g., missing arm, low vision, hearing loss, etc.) more than traditional acoustic instruments, whose generally fixed design allows little room for disabled musicians inclusivity. Relatively few works discuss ADMIs in the context of disability studies, and no work has investigated the impact of different disability models in the process of designing inclusive music technology. This paper proposes criteria to classify ADMIs according to the medical, social, and cultural models of disability, then applies these criteria to evaluate eleven ADMIs targeting d/Deaf people. This analysis allows us to reflect on the design of ADMIs from different perspectives of disability, giving insights for future projects and deepening our understanding of medical, social, and cultural aspects of accessible music technology.

Indigenous experiences and underutilisation of disability support services in Australia: a qualitative meta-synthesis

Purpose: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People with a disability continue to experience barriers to service engagement such as mistrust of government services, lack of culturally appropriate support, marginalisation and disempowerment. This meta-synthesis reviews current literature regarding these experiences to explain why services are underutilised. Methods: The meta-synthesis was conducted using a meta-ethnographic approach to synthesise existing studies into new interpretive knowledge. The approach was supported by a search using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Results: Ten original research papers utilising a qualitative methodology were extracted. Synthesis of the articles revealed four concepts that were developed into a conceptual model. These include:1) History Matters; 2) Cultural Understanding of Disability Care; 3) Limitations to Current Service Provision; and 4) Delivery of Effective Services. Conclusions: Disability services do not adequately consider the cultural needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People or communicate in a culturally appropriate manner. There are expectations that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People acknowledge their disability in alignment with western definitions of disability in order to access services. More work is needed to align disability services with culturally appropriate support to provide better health outcomes. Implications for Rehabilitation Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a disability continue to experience barriers to service engagement which must be addressed. An essential gap that must be filled in providing disability services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is the acknowledgment of culture as a resolute influence on all client interactions with providers. A cultural model of disability may better align with the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than current medical and social models used in healthcare. Disability services need to align better with culturally appropriate support to provide better health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Universal enfranchisement for citizens with cognitive disabilities – A moral-status argument

ABSTRACT The social and cultural model of disability has challenged the historically powerful perception of disability as a deficiency. Disability is no longer conceived of solely in terms of an individual lack of capacities but also considered as a structural effect of disabling social institutions and normalizing thinking. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) from 2006 marks a decisive step towards the recognition of humans with (cognitive) disabilities as legal subjects who are entitled to enjoy all human rights on equal terms with others. A central claim of the CRPD refers to full political participation of persons with (cognitive) disabilities. This paper argues for strengthening the political participation of persons with severe cognitive disabilities. The normative starting point is the claim that they are our equals, both morally and socially. In spelling out this status equality for the realm of the political, I focus on what political equality and inclusivity means concerning franchise. I will argue that the disenfranchisement of persons with cognitive disabilities, as practiced in many countries, cannot be justified. Furthermore, enfranchising persons with cognitive disabilities is deemed a central expression of their recognition as equals. Thus, it marks a crucial moment of emancipatory transformation towards a more inclusive political system. In cases where severely cognitive disabled persons cannot exercise the right to vote themselves, forms of assisted voting and supported decision-making must be available.

Priestly Disability and Centralization of the Cult in the Holiness Code

This article analyzes how the notion of priestly disability in Lev. 21.16–23 is used in the Holiness Code (H) to construct social identity, shape culture, and organize the society of ancient Israel based on the cultural model of disability. The present study finds that the laws concerning the disabled priests were used in H as a strategy for reconstructing and narrating a new social order, namely, the centralized cult. Although the disabled priests, in contrast to able-bodied priests, were marginalized insofar as they were banned from the most elite rites, they maintained a higher status in the cult compared to other groups in both the priestly and non-priestly communities. Thus, their unique priesthood status was affirmed regardless of their disability. Furthermore, by reinforcing the idea of the officiating priests as the normate image, H’s discourse on priestly disability centralized the authority in the cult of ancient Israel and granted power to the priests.

“Can You Hear Me Now?…Good!”: A Deaf Adder and the Inversion of Disability Imagery in Psalm 58:5–6

Abstract This article explores the use of deaf imagery in Psalm 58 through a cultural model of disability and a historicist approach to highlight the unique rhetorical function of disability imagery within the psalm. In the Hebrew Bible, deafness is typically an affliction to be avoided, and deaf groups typically need Yahweh’s protection along with other disabled groups. In Psalm 58, however, an adder representing wicked people who oppose the psalmist’s community voluntarily disables itself to better withstand the efforts of those who would try to neutralize its threat. For the adder, disability is a source of strength, not weakness. For the psalmist’s community, however, disability is still a problem which necessitates crying out to Yahweh for relief. The use of deaf imagery within this text highlights the contrast between Yahweh, who is righteous and fully-abled, and the wicked/their foreign deities, who judge unfairly and who are depicted as disabled.

Disability–Culture–Society: Strengths and weaknesses of a cultural model of dis/ability

Drawing on the approach of disability studies this article claims the relevance of culture as an analytical category for the study of disability. It starts with differentiating several fields of research that focus on disability; then it explores the notion of culture. Next, it appreciates the social model of disability, sketches its history and resulting debates. It also provides an overview on earlier attempts of conceptualizing a cultural studies approach to disability. Further, it offers an analytical perspective that uses the concept of “dis/ability”, analyses impairment, disability and normality as “empty signifiers”, views dis/ability as naturalized and embodied difference, and understands this category as effected by symbolic orders, bodily practices and social institutions. Additionally, referring to the debate on independent living as an example, this article highlights the heuristic value of the cultural model of dis/ability for both research and practice by describing guiding questions resulting from individual, social and cultural models of disability. It concludes by discussing possible pitfalls of a cultural studies approach to dis/ability.

Trabajadores consumidos - cuerpos discapacitados: la formación del conocimiento histórico tras el giro cultural

Algunos estudios recientes de la Organización para la Cooperación Económica y el Desarrollo (OECD) hablan de la aparición de nuevos síntomas psicosomáticos en el ámbito del trabajo. Nos encontramos con la paradoja de que a pesar de que el estado de salud y de bienestar crece en la sociedad, las tasas del síndrome de burnout, junto con la ansiedad, adicción y disfunción cada vez son más altas. Uno de cada cinco trabajadores padece algún tipo de enfermedad mental, como depresión o ansiedad, y muchos otros luchan para enfrentarse a ella. Una lectura atenta nos permite ver que el modelo socio-médico domina la investigación, a pesar de que en los últimos 15 años el modelo cultural ha ido cobrando cada vez más importancia. Sin embargo, existen dos puntos relevantes para el conocimiento histórico que necesitan mayor desarrollo: por un lado, existen pocos estudios sobre el trabajo que usen las herramientas de los estudios culturales y, por otro, los estudios sobre discapacidad basados en el modelo cultural raramente abordan el ámbito del sujeto trabajador. Partiendo de este punto de análisis, este artículo pretende estimular la reflexión sobre la formación del conocimiento histórico en el ambito del trabajo. La perspectiva epistemológica de este estudio es la del modelo cultural de la discapacidad: la metodología está basada en los giros espacial, visual y lingüístico. A través del estudio de artefactos históricos como las escenas de películas o las definiciones jurídicas podemos llegar a conocer mejor la manera en que conceptualizamos a los seres humanos. La tesis de este artículo es que durante el siglo XX, la cambiante “microfísica del poder” (Foucault) produjo nuevas formas de subjetivación: bien los trabajadores intentaron ajustarse a los “ritmos de la maquina”, o bien expresaron sus necesidades en forma de “desacuerdo interiorizado”. En el texto se pone de manifiesto que la centralización del cuerpo y la mente parece encontrarse en el corazón de la transformación postfordista. El artículo finaliza subrayando la posibilidad de leer los cuerpos como fuente histórica, un enfoque que Bryan S. Turner ha teorizado en su artículo “Disability and the Sociology of the Body”.

‘Mabel is Unstable’: A Feminist Disability Studies Perspective on Early-Twentieth-Century Representations of Disabled Women in Advertisements

The representation of women with mental health issues in early twentieth century advertisements supports the stereotype of women experiencing mental health issues as ‘unstable’, ‘unworthy’ and inherently ‘lacking’. This paper finds that women with mental health issues are overwhelmingly placed as lone figures that are deserving of close scrutiny and objectification by patriarchal society. A cultural model of disability is outlined as a key perspective that can be used to provide a foundation for a feminist disability studies inquiry that seeks to empower disabled women, in some small way. The medical ‘gaze’ dominates the representations of ‘madwomen’ through the persistent discourse of pharmaceutical intervention and the omnipresent message that cognitive enhancement is a necessary and ‘effective’ way of securing women in the home. Textual analysis suggests that the advertisements collectively carry ableist and sexist discourses that reflect hegemonic ideals of mid-twentieth-century UK society. Specifically, an application of critical discourse analysis finds that the discourses support the oppressive and ableist binary of ‘sane/insane’. Intersections between gender and disability are further developed in order to shape understandings of how disabled women are repeatedly silenced through constant medication and surveillance in order to maintain the ‘status quo’ (Garland Thomson, 1996). **Keywords**: Feminist Disability Studies, Cultural Model, Medical Gaze, Social Model, Medical Model, Patriarchy

The Disabled Body Politic in Isaiah 3:1, 8

Despite recent interest in disability imagery in Isaiah, few interpreters have recognized that Isa 3:1, 8 metaphorically portrays the nation of Judah as a lame person and its officials and elites as its crutch. Verse 1 announces the removal of these leaders due to their malfeasance, and v. 8 describes how Judah and Jerusalem stumble and fall as a result. This metaphor is consistent with other Isaian texts that associate disability with judgment against ineffective leadership (e.g., Isa 29:10; 56:10). It differs remarkably, however, from texts that imagine the transformation of disabled bodies into able ones (e.g., Isa 32:3-4; 35:5-6). Because Isaiah likely regarded dependence on benevolent governance as an innate human characteristic, the removal of disability would be unthinkable within the metaphor in Isa 3:1, 8. Instead, the text locates disability in the interaction between bodies and their environments-an emphasis found in Isa 56:3-5 and Jer 31:8-9 as well-which resonates with newer cultural or social models of disability. By attending carefully to this metaphor, interpreters gain greater understanding of the critique of leadership in this poem and the construction of disability in the book of Isaiah and the wider prophetic corpus.References to disability in the book of Isaiah have received much study of late. Because the language of blindness and deafness in particular recurs throughout Isaiah, it has attracted attention as a potential source of thematic unity for the book.1 More recently, interpreters with interests in disability studies have noted that these texts offer valuable clues to the construction of disability in ancient Israel and within the Hebrew Bible, even if they do not refer to actual disabled persons but instead use disability as a literary topos.2 Despite the proliferation of such studies, an intriguing reference to lameness in Isaiah has received little attention because it is not typically recognized as such, perhaps because its components are separated by seven verses and because it does not employ standard Biblical Hebrew terms for lameness (e.g., pisseah, limping).3 Situated within a prophetic critique of ineffective religious and political leadership, Isa 3:1 and 8 nonetheless depict the nation of Judah as a person who needs, but ultimately loses, assistance to walk: For the Lord Yhwh of hosts will soon remove from Jerusalem and Judah staff and stay.... [Then] Jerusalem will stumble, and Judah will fall.4 In this article, I will show that these verses represent Judah as a disabled person and its leaders as the crutch upon which it depends for mobility.5 This metaphor has affinities with other portrayals of disability in the book of Isaiah, but strikingly it does not present the disabled body as abnormal or in need of correction, as do many other Isaian texts. Rather, the support technology-the crutch-is judged defective and removed after its malfunctioning leads to the nations literal and figurative collapse. In other words, in keeping with what disability theorists call a social or cultural model of disability, my reading suggests that the metaphor locates the problem of limited mobility not in the disabled body itself but in the failure of its structural accommodations, just as Isaiah blames not the people but their failed leaders for Judah's national crisis in Isaiah 3.Because the image cannot be fully understood apart from the larger poem in which it occurs, I begin with a reading of Isa 3:1-15, emphasizing the contrast between its depictions of Judah's elite leaders and the general populace, who suffer from their oppression. This reading is followed by a closer explication of the metaphor in w. 1,8. In the final section, I situate this metaphor in the contexts of Isaian and other prophetic portrayals of disability, informed by some recent studies of disability in the Hebrew Bible. I contrast the metaphor with the uniquely Isaian representation of the future healing of disabilities, while also comparing it to two other prophetic texts that entertain the possibility of environmental accommodation or support for disabled bodies, Jer 31:8-9 and Isa 56:3-5. …

Analytical Survey: Encountering Disability in the Middle Ages

This analytical survey offers an overview of current approaches to disability in medieval literature and culture. The first section traces important medical, social, religious, and cultural models of disability. The second section examines how critical notions of monstrosity and prosthesis inform contemporary analysis of medieval texts. The third section demonstrates connections between medieval literature and activist-oriented criticism. The final section considers cross-historical approaches to disability, including future approaches to disability aesthetics and theory.

‘I connected’: reflection and biography in teacher learning toward inclusion

In this paper I examine the ways that prospective teachers studying in a university‐based, graduate‐level teacher education programme engage in reflection toward making meaning of disability. I focus on the background experiences, identities, and knowledge that teachers draw from to make meaning of social and cultural models of disability, and which relate to their developing ideas about inclusive teaching practices. Providing prospective teachers a forum to reflect and find connections between their experiences — more often as persons who do not identify as disabled — and persons with disabilities suggests one way that teacher educators can build curriculum that counters a perception of students labelled with disabilities as ‘others’, and subsequently supports teachers to propose directions for inclusive teaching.

Cultural Locations of Disability (review)

Reviewed by: Cultural Locations of Disability David Serlin Sharon L. Snyder and David T. Mitchell. Cultural Locations of Disability. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. xiv + 245 pp. Ill. $58.00, £37.00 (cloth, 0-226 76731-0), $19.00, £12.00 (paperbound, 0-226-76732-9). The development of disability studies as a recognizable and interdisciplinary field over the past three decades has often made uneasy bedfellows of scholars of disability and historians of Western medicine. While many scholars of both medicine and disability have been deeply influenced by the insights of Michel Foucault and Ivan Ilych, they have often diverged in their respective interpretations of rehabilitation and physical therapy, two of the cornerstones of modern medical care. For many, the therapeutic tradition—what disability scholars call the "medical model" of disability—makes the disabled individual legible only through rehabilitation's goals of productive normalization. Like cognate critiques made by some historians of psychiatry and psychopharmacology, the medical model of disability demands that the body be "fixed" in order for it to become whole, locating the problem of difference in the individual rather than in the society that holds unrealistic expectations about bodily norms. Cultural Locations of Disability, Sharon L. Snyder and David T. Mitchell's timely and erudite intervention into these discussions, advocates for a "cultural model" of disability that challenges social models of disability, the standard interpretive move in disability studies that focuses on environmental and institutional barriers or, at its most extreme, asserts that disability is socially constructed. Cultural models of disability, by contrast, take a third path by arguing that, while certain concepts of disability are indeed historically contingent, it is undeniable that physical and cognitive impairments exist in the world. Cultural Locations of Disability thus sets its sights on historicizing how both social understandings of the body and individual bodily impairment produce knowledge of disability, neither denying nor privileging historical conditions that are independent of one's own bodily experience. In the first three chapters, for example, Snyder and Mitchell explore what they call nineteenth-century "sciences of the surface"—shorthand for phrenology, fingerprinting, and eugenics—to demonstrate how the quantitative and administrative legacies of such sciences have had fundamental policy implications for classifying and regulating disabled bodies as well as those of immigrants, the poor, and the socially or sexually deviant. In perhaps the book's strongest and most provocative chapter, the authors define the contours of what they call the "eugenic Atlantic" to chart the transnational dimensions of scientific and intellectual collaboration and cooperation among eugenicists in Europe and the United States. While the book's engagement with scientific and medical history is refreshing and compelling, its ambition to elucidate the cultural model of disability in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries runs into some conceptual obstacles that, occasionally, raise more questions than the authors are able to resolve. The second half of the book, devoted to contemporary documentary films made by and about disabled individuals, provides excellent film analysis but does not explain how filmmaking is either an alternative to or an improvement on the "sciences of the surface," other than to show how people with disabilities have seized control [End Page 491] of their histories through direct media activism. Furthermore, given their insistence on recognizing the cultural dialectic of disability, Snyder and Mitchell do not explore the gendered roots of nineteenth-century discourses of self-sufficiency and independence, nor how gender, as scholars such as feminist philosopher Eva Feder Kittay have argued, shaped and continues to shape those with disabilities as well as their caregivers, whether among nineteenth-century "cripples" or twenty first century veterans of the Iraq War. Still, the larger significance of Snyder and Mitchell's book lies in its claim that treating disability as either exclusively physical or environmental ignores the richness—rather than the paucity—of the disabled experience, which, when considered seriously, has the capacity to challenge conventional historical and contemporary understandings of what constitutes ability, health, and normalcy. David Serlin University of California, San Diego Copyright © 2008 The Johns Hopkins University Press

Disability Cosmology: The Practice of Making Disability Worlds

The practice of making disability worlds is investigated both theoretically, in the context of developments in disability studies, in particular in the cultural model of disability, and practically in two examples, namely inclusive education environments and public environments. Theoretically, we argue that disability worlds can be better understood by introducing the notion of disability cosmology as the largest possible perspective on the making of disability worlds. A cultural model research perspective of disability consists then of the complementary study of disability identity, culture and cosmology. The practical examples work out the particularities of making and understanding disability worlds. In the making of disability worlds, much attention goes to the ways in which disability worlds relate to the normative world; for example in the formation of boundaries and transgressions, but also fundamentally how disability adds to becoming human.