Representation of Disability Through the Lens of Indian Medicine and Social Design

Haley Dusek

India

• Population: 1.237 billion• Religion: Hindu, Muslim, Christian• Social Structure: Caste System

• 88% live in abject poverty• 90 million w/ disabilities

Source: Expanding the Horizons of Disability Law in India

Disability

i. “A physical or mental characteristic labeled or perceived as an impairment or dysfunction”

ii. “Some personal or mental limitation associated with that impairment”

Source: World Health Organization

Models of Disability

• Religious

• Medical

• Social Human Rights

Language

• Perception of disability

• Acceptance in community

• Manifestation of the primary model

Medical Model

Prosthetic Development: “to restore amputee to as functional a capacity as possible in his cultural environment, whilst attaining as good of a cosmetic result as can be achieved”

Medical Model

• “disabled”

• “patient”

• “limb deficient”

Restrictions of Medical Model

• Individualized

• Ableism

• Removal of Identity

Social Model

• Universal Design: a design approach which addresses an increasingly felt human need for the creation of environments that all people are able to use to the largest extent without the need for adaptation of specialized design”

• Person-First Language

Social Model

• “diversely-abled people”

• “users with disabilities”

• “The disability of people with disabilities in poorer countries is doubled [by ignoring accessibility issues in the environment]” – Singapalli Balaram

Shifting to the Social Model

• “Doubling of resources”

• Individual Community

• Preservation of Identity

• Public Policy – Visitability

Works Cited• Balaram, Singapalli. “Universal Design: A new paradigm.” National Institute of

Design • Chand, N., R.K. Srivastava, and A.R. Maish. "Hanging stump prosthesis without

socket for bad above-knee stumps." Prosthetics and Orthotics International 9 (1985): 154-156.

• Chopra, Tushti. “Expanding the Horizons of Disability Law in India: A Study from a Human Rights Perspective.” Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 4 (2013): 807-820.

• Mullick, Abir. “Universal Design is the basis of accessibility.” Disability News and Information Service. (undated).

• Strait, Erin. “Prosthetics in Developing Countries.” Prosthetics and Orthotics International (2006): 1-40.

• Wasserman, David, Asch, Adrienne, Blustein, Jeffrey and Putnam, Daniel, "Disability: Definitions, Models, Experience", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/disability/>.