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Cited by 140Disability Rights and RepresentationInclusion and Disability in Education and SportMental Health and Patient Involvement

Disability activisms: social model stalwarts and biological citizens

Hughes, Bill·2009·Disability & Society
DOI 10.1080/09687590903160118
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Abstract

The Disabled People’s Movement (DPM) in the UK rejects the view that disability is an illness. For the DPM it is the social processes of discrimination and oppression that create the material circumstances out of which solidarity and politicisation arise. The DPM has also been shy about impairment, arguing that it is generally irrelevant to the issue of disability and that a clear distinction between impairment and disability is necessary if disability is to be understood as a basis for identity politics. The biological citizens that support embodied health movements use impairment, genetic status, biomedical diagnosis and classification as calling cards that signal their claims to identity. Whilst the DPM has challenged medical hegemony and scientific ideas, many ‘biosocial’ groups embrace the specialised medical and scientific knowledge associated with their ‘condition’, particularly where it might be used to enhance their claims to citizenship. This paper argues that disability activism in the UK is bifurcating. It addresses the difference in perspective and action between the ‘social model stalwarts’ of the DPM and biological citizens that organise politically around particular diagnostic labels.

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  • Disability is typically a distressing experience, accompanied by stigmatization that often leads to socio-economic disparities and social exclusion.

    “First, disability is a typically distressing experience, accompanied by stigmatization that often leads to socio-economic disparities and social exclusion [16].”

    From The person in the disabled body: a perspective on culture and personhood from the margins (2016) · cites this paper as [16]

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Authors
Hughes, B.
Affiliations
Glasgow Caledonian University (GB)
Corresponding author
Hughes, Bill
Venue
Disability & Society
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2009-09-22
Volume
24
Issue
6
Pages
677-688
ISSN
  • 0267-4645 (ISSN-L)
  • 0968-7599
  • 1360-0508
DOI
10.1080/09687590903160118
OpenAlex
W2096029746
Cited by
140
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 5
FWCI
14.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Disability & Society (publishedVersion)
  • ResearchOnline (acceptedVersion)
  • ResearchOnline (Glasgow Caledonian University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Rights and Representation
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mental Health and Patient Involvement
Keywords
disability activism, social model of disability, biological citizenship, disability rights movement, impairment, diagnosis, genetic status, identity politics, medical hegemony

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