This path-breaking 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.The Handbook answers the need expressed by the disability community for a thought provoking, interdisciplinary, international examination of the vibrant field of disability

Introduction: The Formation of Disability Studies - Gary L Albrecht, Katherine D Seelman, and Michael BuryPART ONE: THE SHAPING OF DISABILITIES STUDIES AS A FIELDAn Institutional History of Disability - David L Braddock and Susan ParishCounting Disability - Glenn T Fujiura and Violet Rutkowski-Kmitta Disability Definitions, Models, Classification Schemes and Applications - Barbara Altman Theorizing Disability - Gareth WilliamsMethodological Paradigms That Shape Disability Research - Scott Campbell BrownDisability - Patrick Fougeyrollas and Line Beauregard An Interactive Person-Environment Social CreationRepresentation and Its Discontents - David T Mitchell and Sharon L Snyder The Uneasy Home of Disability in Literature and FilmPhilosophical 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 ParmenterDisability, Bioethics and Human Rights - Adrienne Asch Disability Studies and Electronic Networking - Ellen Liberti Blasiotti, John D Westbrook, and Iwao KobayashiPART TWO: EXPERIENCING DISABILITYDivided Understandings - Carol Gill The Social Experience of DisabilityMapping the Family - Philip M Ferguson Disability Studies and the Exploration of Parental Response to DisabilityDisability and Community - Michael P Kelly A Sociological ApproachWelfare States and Disabled People - Robert F DrakeAdvocacy 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 MeaningsPART THREE: DISABILITY IN CONTEXTDisability 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 RecognitionDisability Human Rights, Law and Policy - Jerome E Bickenbach The Political Economy of the Disability Marketplace - Gary L Albrecht and Michael BuryDisability and Health Policy - Gerben DeJong and Ian Basnett The Role of Markets in the Delivery of Health ServicesDisability 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 ViewScience and Technology Policy - Katherine D Seelman Is Disability a Missing Factor?Disability, Education and Inclusion - Len Barton and Felicity Armstrong Cross-Cultural Issues and DilemmasSupport Systems - Simi Litvak and Alexandra Enders The Interface Between Individuals and EnvironmentsThe Relationship between Disabled People and Health and Welfare Professionals - Sally French and John Swain Public Health Trends in Disability - Don Lollar Past, Present, and FutureDisability in the Developing World - Benedicte Ingstad