People with disabilities are people first. However, because they represent a large and diverse group, understanding how they navigate their social worlds and construe their situations is essential for rehabilitation therapists, educators, policy makers, clinicians, students, and laypeople. This will be the first edited collection to cover classic, current, and nascent topics in the social psychology of disability in many years. The authors represent both established and new voices examining social psychological factors tied to the experience of disability. Researchers, clinicians, and educators can use or adapt chapter concepts for their respective professional venues.

Over the last three decades, a number of reforms have taken place in European social policy with an impact on the opportunities for persons with disabilities to be full and active members of society. The policy reforms have aimed to change the balance between citizens’ rights and duties and the opportunities to enjoy choice and autonomy, live in the community and participate in political decision-making processes of importance for one’s life. How do the reforms influence the opportunities to exercise Active Citizenship? This volume presents the findings from the first cross-national comparison of how persons with disabilities reflexively make their way through the world, pursuing their own interests and values. The volume considers how their experiences, views and aspirations regarding participation vary across Europe. Based on retrospective life-course interviews, the volume examines the scope for agency on the part of persons with disabilities, i.e. the extent to which men and women with disabilities are able to make choices and pursue lives they have reasons to value. Drawing on structuration theory and the capability approach, the volume investigates the opportunities for exercising Active Citizenship among men and women in nine European countries. The volume identifies the policy implications of a process-oriented and multi-dimensional approach to Active Citizenship in European disability policy. It will appeal to policymakers and policy officials, as well as to researchers and students of disability studies, comparative social policy, international disability law and qualitative research methods.

People with disabilities (PWDs) have the same aspirations for their lives as you do for yours. The difference is that PWDs don’t have the same access to education, employment, housing, transportation and healthcare in order to achieve their goals. In The Disability Experience you’ll meet people with different kinds of disabilities, and you'll begin to understand the ways PWDs have been ignored, reviled and marginalized throughout history. The book also celebrates the triumphs and achievements of PWDs and shares the powerful stories of those who have fought for change. The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Rehabilitation psychologists have long argued that situational constraints (e.g., missing ramps, lack of Braille signage, nondisabled peoples' attitudes) create greater social barriers and behavioral restrictions for people with disabilities (PWDs) than do the disabilities themselves. In other words, as social psychologist Kurt Lewin argued, situational factors, including the perceptions and actions of other people, often have greater impact on the experience of disability than do the personal qualities of PWDs themselves. Thus, the experience of disability is shaped by a variety of psychosocial forces and factors, some of which enhance while others hinder daily living. For adequate understanding and to plan constructive interventions, psychological science must attend to how the disabled person and the situation interact with one another. Understanding the Experience of Disability: Perspectives from Social and Rehabilitation Psychology is an edited book containing chapters written by social and rehabilitation psychologists who study how social psychological theory can inform our understanding of the experience of disability and rehabilitation. Chapters are arranged topically into four sections: Established areas of inquiry (e.g., stigma, social biases, stereotyping), mainstream topics (e.g., women, culture and race, aging), emerging issues (e.g., implicit attitudes, family and parenting issues, positive psychology), and issues of injustice, advocacy, and social policy (e.g., perceived injustice, disability advocacy, policy implications). Besides informing advanced undergraduate and graduate students and professional (researchers, practitioners) audiences, the book will help families and caregivers of PWDs, policy makers, and PWDs themselves, understand the social psychological processes linked to disability.

Understanding and Responding to the Experience of Disability informs readers about current understandings of disability and ways of recognizing the needs that arise from the lived experience of impairment in schools. While most schools have clear procedures in place with respect to identifying children with special educational needs, the same is not true for disability. Moreover, research suggests that many schools have restricted understanding of this distinction, often equating disability to children with SEN and children with health conditions, thereby failing to recognize the pivotal role of impact. In this insightful text, Jill Porter argues that disability needs to be understood within the setting in which it is experienced, thereby recognizing that it is not a fixed attributable label, but one that is cultural, contextual and fluid. By providing a theoretical basis for understandings of disability around notions of impairment, experience and impact, the book combines three key components: a conceptual understanding of disability – to provide a clear value driven framework for professional responses; an empirical illustration of the development of materials to support an understanding of why the process of disability data collection cannot simply be reduced to two questions on a form; embedded illustrative case study material to provide exemplars of how the materials can be contextualized and used to make adjustments to enhance the participation of all children.

Disability in South Asia: Knowledge & Experience presents a comprehensive approach to various aspects of disability in South Asia. A critical work on disability studies, this book explores the full complexity of disability in its multi-layered, interactional dynamics. The book imparts understanding of the social, political and cultural construction of disability as opposed to the traditional perception of disability in terms of medical condition, biological trait, rehabilitation and special education. It focuses on foregrounding disability across various areas including education, law and sociology, critically exploring the interaction of gender and disability, and challenging the separation between theory and practice as well as academia and activism. The book shows how the inclusion of a disability perspective enriches scholarship by contributing to the understanding of social marginalization, oppression and the perception of difference. It highlights the lived experiences of people with disabilities to help readers develop a nuanced comprehension of disability.

Disability: The Basics is an engaging and accessible introduction to disability which explores the broad historical, social, environmental, economic and legal factors which affect the experiences of those living with an impairment or illness in contemporary society. The book explores key introductory topics including: the diversity of the disability experience; disability rights and advocacy; ways in which disabled people have been treated throughout history and in different parts of the world; the daily realities of living with an impairment or illness; health, education, employment and other services that exist to support and include disabled people; ethical issues at the beginning and end of life. Disability: The Basics aims to provide readers with an understanding of the lived experiences of disabled people and highlight the continuing gaps and barriers in social responses to the challenge of disability. This book is suitable for lay people, students of disability studies as well as students taking a disability module as part of a wider course within social work, health care, sociology, nursing, policy and media studies.