Complex Interactions And Shifting Ideals Shroud Our Country 's Policy Process Essay

In Nancy Mairs’ article for The New York Times, “Disability”, published in 1987, she expresses her distaste with the media's representation of handicapped people. Mairs, who struggled with multiple sclerosis herself, clearly and sharply conveys this disgust by stating, “I’m not, for instance, Ms. MS, a walking, talking embodiment of a chronic incurable degenerative disease.” (Mairs 13), and that she is actually, “the advertisers’ dream: Ms. Great American Consumer. And yet the advertisers, who determine nowadays who will get represented publicly and who will not, deny the existence of me and my kind absolutely”(Mairs 14). Mairs is greatly upset that disabled people are defined by their disabilities and, therefore, are underrepresented in public media. This might lead to one asking themselves, but why are they? And the answer, according to Mairs, is quite simple, “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of daily life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anybody’s life”(Mairs 14). Mairs concludes by pointing out how this effacement could have dangerous consequences for both disabled people and, as she called everyone else, TAPs (Temporarily Abled Persons) alike. Treating disabilities as an abnormal characteristic (as opposed to viewing them “as a normal characteristic, one that complicates but does not ruin human existence” (Mairs 15)) can cause one of these repercussions, as it makes the

People who experience a disability are some of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups within our society. This essay will explain what disability is and what it means to have a disability. Disability can often be seen as a form of social deviance, and so, because of this, the disability community can be othered and excluded within mainstream society. This essay will give examples of how othering occurs and how othering could be avoided, when working as a social worker with people with disabilities. Social workers have an extremely important role in the lives of people with a disability. Social workers are often a person with a disability’s voice and advocate and they need to set an example for

The amount of people who live with disabilities is a controversial number. Depending on what law and diagnostic tools used, a person may have a visible disability, or one that may lie beneath the surface of his or her appearance. Some people believe that the term “disability” is merely a label use to hold back, or prescribe helplessness. Meanwhile, individuals who have been properly diagnosed with disabilities struggle to maintain respect and acceptance every day. In plain language, there is a lot of misunderstanding between people with disabilities and those without. It is firstly important to get everyone on the same page regarding the definition of disability.

The Medical Model regards disability as an individual problem. It promotes a traditional view of disability, that it is something to be ‘cured’, even though many conditions have no cure. The problem is seen as the disabled person and their impairment, not society, and the solution is seen as adapting the disabled person to fit the non-disabled world, often through medical intervention. Control resides firmly with professionals; choices for the individual are limited to the options provided and approved by the 'helping' expert.

Douglas C. Baynton argues in his article, “Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History”, that the concept of disability is culturally constructed and has been paid little to no attention to throughout history. He also argues that the term disability plays an important role in justifying discriminations against minority groups, based on gender, race, and ethnicity. He states that “Disability has functioned historically to justify inequality for disabled people themselves, but it has also done so for women and minority groups. That is, not only has it been considered justifiable to treat disabled people unequally, but the concept of disability has been used to justify discrimination against other groups by attributing disability to them.” (Baynton 94) He used women’s suffrage, African American freedom, and immigration restriction as examples to show how disability played an essential role in illustrating how minorities who were labeled as disabled were treated with discrimination. As they were labeled with disability, discrimination against them became justifiable, which ultimately proves that discrimination against disabled was thought as justifiable and were looked over.

Deborah Stone begins her book, Policy Paradox, by stating, “a theory of policy politics must start with a simple model of political society, just as economics starts with a simple model of economic society.” Deborah Stone examines two policy-making models to describe the paradox’s of the process model for public policy. The two models include: the market (rational model) and the Polis (community) model. Stone states she contrasts these two models to “illuminate some ways the market model distorts political life.” As discussed in class, the market model follows five steps:

The credibility of being a disability rights lawyer demonstrates strong ethos throughout the article presented by McBryde Johnson. She has the personal experiences of being disabled. She is an expert witness with lived experiences that add to the ethos of her argument. This use of double ethos gives her the credibility that others do not possess. This allows her to talk about her situations with personal knowledge of the subject matter. With personal experience, she has knowledge surrounding the issue allows the audience to accept what she has to say. For example, McBryde Johnson and her followers explain how disabled people can live relatively happy lives compared to those people without a disability. “The presence or absence of a disability does not predict quality of life” (McBryde Johnson 3). Demonstrating that people with disabilities can have a high quality of life, as said before, gives McBryde Johnson credibility to further support her argument. McBryde Johnson is a lawyer who exhibits a high intelligence and also deals with the state legislators in disability activism. For example, she helped pass a bill with the hope of moving toward a world where killing is not such an appealing

This paper is a review of chapter’s one (1), two (2) and three (3) in Thomas A. Birklands (2016) fourth edition regarding policy process. The reading attempts to define and show what is meant by policy process, how government, politics and the public are intertwined, problems that are associated with the policy process and how we address the problems. Current day events as well as past history are applied to the practice of policy process which assists in defining the process and highlighting its connection and importance. Thomas A. Birklands refers to the Clinton administration, the Obama administration and the George W. Bush administration, the DARE Program, World War II, and the Vietnam War, in the chapters and leads us down a path discussing

as initiatives such as ‘Our Health Our Care Our Say’, ‘Putting People First’ and ‘Valuing People’ are changing how we look at disability and making people aware that all disabled people have the right to take a full part in society.

Looking back in the past, there have been many features, and true definitions of the word disability. In the 1970s a group called the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation defined disability as the disadvantage or restriction of activity cased by social organizations. U.S disability activists made efforts during the 1970s to form different alliances with the disability community, that protested for the inclusion of disability discrimination under the Rehabilitation act. Thereafter there was a medial model at looking at disability, that views disability as an individual shortfall. In

The social model of disability which views discrimination and prejudice as being embedded in today’s society, their attitudes and their surrounding environment.

Disability in a socio-cultural context can be defined as "a barrier to participation of people with impairments or chronic illnesses arising from an interaction of the impairment or illness with discriminatory attitudes, cultures, policies or institutional practices" (Booth, 2000). The traditional view of disability often focuses on the individual, highlighting incapacities or failings, a defect, or impairment. This focus creates obstacles to participation on equal terms since an individual who seems to lack certain capacities may not be able to attain autonomy.

All they want is to take part of society as a normal individual. The disability-movement has fought for the disabilities rights throughout the years and has achieved goals such as accommodation of architectural infrastructures to serve better people who are physical impairments. The public policies have been great accomplishments because it has helped people with disabilities to be part of society. The disability-movement points out the healthcare finance policies have taken freedom away from the disability community, “ Health-care financing policies force disabled people into Institutions and nursing homes rather than funding independent living. Income-maintenance and public health-insurance policies include “disincentives” that penalize disabled individuals for trying to work productively.”(p.4). The government has done a great job on protecting disabled individuals’ rights. However, the health-care system has isolated this group even more by restricting the level of productivity that they have within the system, as a result this medical model marginalizes this group of people and this program available for this community does not fully address their issues.

Despite the response to disability varying greatly between times, places and cultures (Barnes, 2012), there is no doubt that disability has an immeasurable impact on people’s lives. Disability affects an individual’s identity and their ability to work, socialise and be involved in society. In this essay I will discuss how approaches to disability have changed over time, specifically how approaches to disability have developed in recent centuries. I will start by discussing the medical model before moving on to its direct challenge in the social model. Finally I will discuss responses to the social model, in particular the biopsychosocial model.

“A ‘What’s the problem?’ approach insists that it is crucial to reflect upon the representations offered by both those who describe something as a problem and by those who deny an issue problem status. Its purpose is to create a space to consider competing constructions of issues addressed in the policy process, and the ways in which these constructions leave other issues untouched.” (Bacchi, 1999, pg. 4)