Michael Bury & Gary L. Albrecht 
Handbook of Disability Studies [PDF ebook] 

This path-breaking international handbook of disability studies signals the emergence of a vital new area of scholarship, social policy and activism. Drawing on the insights of disability scholars around the world and the creative advice of an international editorial board, the book engages the reader in the critical issues and debates framing disability studies and places them in an historical and cultural context. Five years in the making, this one volume summarizes the ongoing discourse ranging across continents and traditional academic disciplines. To provide insight and perspective, the volume is divided into three sections: The shaping of disability studies as a field; experiencing disability; and, disability in context. Each section, written by world class figures, consists of original chapters designed to map the field and explore the key conceptual, theoretical, methodological, practice and policy issues that constitute the field. Each chapter provides a critical review of an area, positions and literature and an agenda for future research and practice. The handbook answers the need expressed by the disability community for a thought provoking, interdisciplinary, international examination of the vibrant field of disability studies. The book will be of interest to disabled people, scholars, policy makers and activists alike. The book aims to define the existing field, stimulate future debate, encourage respectful discourse between different interest groups and move the field a step forward.

Table of Content

Introduction: The Formation of Disability Studies – Gary L Albrecht, Katherine D Seelman, and Michael Bury

PART ONE: THE SHAPING OF DISABILITIES STUDIES AS A FIELD

An Institutional History of Disability – David L Braddock and Susan Parish

Counting Disability – Glenn T Fujiura and Violet Rutkowski-Kmitta

Disability Definitions, Models, Classification Schemes and Applications – Barbara Altman

Theorizing Disability – Gareth Williams

Methodological Paradigms That Shape Disability Research – Scott Campbell Brown

Disability – Patrick Fougeyrollas and Line Beauregard

An Interactive Person-Environment Social Creation

Representation and Its Discontents – David T Mitchell and Sharon L Snyder

The Uneasy Home of Disability in Literature and Film

Philosophical Issues in the Definition and Social Response to Disability – David Wasserman

Disability and the Sociology of the Body – Bryan S Turner

Intellectual Disabilities-
Quo Vadis? – Trevor R Parmenter

Disability, Bioethics and Human Rights – Adrienne Asch

Disability Studies and Electronic Networking – Ellen Liberti Blasiotti, John D Westbrook, and Iwao Kobayashi

PART TWO: EXPERIENCING DISABILITY

Divided Understandings – Carol Gill

The Social Experience of Disability

Mapping the Family – Philip M Ferguson

Disability Studies and the Exploration of Parental Response to Disability

Disability and Community – Michael P Kelly

A Sociological Approach

Welfare States and Disabled People – Robert F Drake

Advocacy and Political Action – Sharon Barnartt, Kay Schrinerm and Richard Scotch

Health Care Professionals and Their Attitudes Towards, and Decisions Affecting Disabled People – Ian Basnett

The Role of Social Networks in the Lives of Persons with Disabilities – Bernice A Pescosolido

Inclusion/Exclusion – Jean-François Ravaud and Henri-Jacques Stiker

An Analysis of Historical and Cultural Meanings

PART THREE: DISABILITY IN CONTEXT

Disability Culture – Colin Barnes and Geoff Mercer

Assimilation or Inclusion?

Identity Politics, Disability and Culture – Lennard J Davis

Making the Difference – Tom Shakespeare and Nick Watson

Disability, Politics, and Recognition

Disability Human Rights, Law and Policy – Jerome E Bickenbach

The Political Economy of the Disability Marketplace – Gary L Albrecht and Michael Bury

Disability and Health Policy – Gerben De Jong and Ian Basnett

The Role of Markets in the Delivery of Health Services

Disability Benefit Programs – Bonnie O′Day and Monroe Berkowitz

Can We Improve the Return to Work Record?

A Disability Studies Perspective on Employment Issues and Policies for Disabled People – Kay Schriner

An International View

Science and Technology Policy – Katherine D Seelman

Is Disability a Missing Factor?

Disability, Education and Inclusion – Len Barton and Felicity Armstrong

Cross-Cultural Issues and Dilemmas

Support Systems – Simi Litvak and Alexandra Enders

The Interface Between Individuals and Environments

The Relationship between Disabled People and Health and Welfare Professionals – Sally French and John Swain

Public Health Trends in Disability – Don Lollar

Past, Present, and Future

Disability in the Developing World – Benedicte Ingstad

About the author

Katherine D. Seelman, Ph.D. is associate dean and professor of rehabilitation science and technology at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. She holds a secondary appointment in the School of Public Health and is co-scientific director of the National Science Foundation- supported Quality of Life Technology Engineering Research Center. During the Clinton Administration, she served as Director of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). Her research and education interests include science and technology R&D trends that enhance independence for people with disabilities and older adults; end-user and stakeholder participation; Disability Studies; Science, Technology and Public Policy and International Rehabilitation. In 2006, Dr. Seelman was invited to serve on the World Health Organization 9-member international editorial committee to guide the development of the first world report on disability. She has lectured and keynoted in countries throughout the world including Japan′s National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities and World Health Organization′s Center in 2003 and in Vietnam for the World Bank in 2002. On the U.S. local and state levels, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell appointed her to two disability State Advisory Committees. She serves on the Pennsylvania Senate Technology Healthcare Working Group. The Mayor and the County Executive appointed her to the City of Pittsburgh/Allegheny County Task Force on Disability which she co-chairs. She was named ‘A Person Who Made a Difference’ in 2002 by Pittsburgh′s leading newspaper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.