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Disability Rights and Wrongs

Tom Shakespeare

Disability rights

It is a pivotal internal critique that matured disability studies beyond its founding social model.

Synopsis

A critical reassessment of disability theory that defends a realist account balancing social barriers against the real effects of impairment.

Core passage idea

Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted work

Disability arises from the interaction of bodily impairment and social barriers, so neither can be denied without distorting the truth.

It pushes back on a purely social model, insisting that honest theory must account for the body as well as society.

To avoid a bubble

Pair with The Minority Body.

Reading note

Read it as a friendly but pointed challenge from within the movement, not an attack on disability rights.

Best paired with

The Minority Body

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