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    STUDIA SOCIOLOGIA - Issue no. 2 / 2008  
         
  Article:   APPROACHES TO DISABILITY AND THE HEALTH STATUS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.

Authors:  NICOLETA MOLNAR.
 
       
         
  Abstract:   The aim of this article is to review the main conceptualisations of disability and their influence on the approach to the health status of persons with disabilities. There are multiple perspectives that provide a framework for understanding the way in which impaired people experience disability. These perspectives influence the nature of health care services that people with disabilities receive. In the medical framework, disability pertains to pathology; it is a dysfunction, which is intrinsic to the individual. In this context, the disabled person is seen as a medical issue. This model promotes a negative, disempowered image of people with disabilities, rather than casting disability as a political, social and environmental problem. The social framework presents disability as socially constructed, a function of social practices and attitudes; it results from barriers, prejudice and social exclusion. A core aspect of this model concerns ensuring equal opportunities for disabled persons. Finally, the paper presents some sociological approaches to disability, such as the functionalist theory, which links disability and social deviance. The latter approach pays little attention to subjective interpretations and emphasises the viewpoints of authorities, such as physicians. Bourdieu’s concept of habitus provides useful tools for analysing the relation to human body, leading to a better understanding of social inequalities lying at the cornerstone of lives of people with disabilities.

Keywords: disability, health care, social inequalities, habitus
 
         
     
         
         
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