Theory Of Essays

Literary legend has it that the seventeenth-century poet John Milton had read every major book, poem, play, tract, pamphlet, or essay available in his lifetime, whether it was written in English, Latin, Greek, Italian, or Hebrew.Ten years ago, disability studies scholars may have felt a bit Miltonesque — less because of our prodigious, polyglottal reading habits, however, and more because there was, relatively speaking, just so little disability scholarship to read. Now disability-studies students and teachers find themselves in the gratifying position of needing to discriminate among possible resources, especially when it comes to introductions to the field.

Literary legend has it that the seventeenth-century poet John Milton had read every major book, poem, play, tract, pamphlet, or essay available in his lifetime, whether it was written in English, Latin, Greek, Italian, or Hebrew.Ten years ago, disability studies scholars may have felt a bit Miltonesque — less because of our prodigious, polyglottal reading habits, however, and more because there was, relatively speaking, just so little disability scholarship to read. Now disability-studies students and teachers find themselves in the gratifying position of needing to discriminate among possible resources, especially when it comes to introductions to the field.

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Take biomedical definitions, for example (as the authors do).

The demographic data garnered under the sway of biomedical conceptions of impairments can lead in many instances to greater access to better health care.

But economic demographics of disability foster the beliefs that a successful life requires "competitive employment" and that the ultimate goal of human existence is economic productivity and the autonomy it purportedly provides.

Both of these are unrealistic and exclusionary goals for some people with disabilities (and as disability scholarship consistently highlights, both are dubious criteria for measuring the quality of human life in general).

More relevant criteria for reviewing this type of work are analytic quality, conceptual clarity, topical breadth, and political and practical usefulness. The collection's first essay, "Disability Policy Making: Evaluating the Evidence Base" by Mary Ann Mc Coll, Alison James, William Boyce, and Sam Shortt is exemplary.

Good demographic evidence, the authors contend, is obviously essential for creating social policies that make equality more than a shibboleth of neo-liberal democracies.But of course the biomedical model reinforces mistaken beliefs that disability is primarily or solely a personal and physical pathology; that society's responsibility, if any, is limited to charity and welfarism; and that full citizenship for the disabled is (unfortunately but ineluctably) limited to participation in a nation's health care system.Or take economic definitions (as the authors do): These do locate disablement in the social sphere and can provide for people with disabilities desperately needed economic assistance.Scientist creates scientific theories from hypothesis that have been corroborated through the scientific method, then gather evidence to test their accuracy.The strength of a scientific theory is related to the diversity of phenomena it can explain, which is measured by its ability to make falsifiable predictions with respect to the phenomena.Not only would this avoid the frequent cuts in services labeled "not medically necessary," but it would also reduce the costs, as much assistance requires little if any medical training of the provider.Ultimately, distinguishes itself not by breaking new ground, at least for Anglo-American disability-studies scholars, but by covering relatively familiar ground clearly and succinctly, by substantiating its theorizing with concrete examples, and most of all, by proffering specific, pragmatic suggestions for effecting change.Still, though 's table of contents may look (too) familiar it would be a mistake to dismiss the collection for lack of thematic originality.Original topics are far from crucial in a field whose fundamental tenets are still not well known, especially by this text's ideal audience: North American legal scholars and policy analysts.It begins, for example, with a call for new conceptions of disablement along social-model lines.The subsequent 13 articles discuss the power and peril of disability's definitions, the double binds of demographic data, the value of theorizing disability, the intersections of gender and disability, race and disability, work and disability, education and disability, and home support services and disability.