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Alex Mcclimens gets my vote... 1) The 'problem' of disability remains the prejudice/ignorance/hatred of others. 2) few of us chose our impairments, but 3) presumably all except the intoxicated chose to become tattooed? Even accepting that the original message refers to IQ testing, rather than disability or impairment in toto, still having trouble with this analogy - unless you are saying that only labelling in schools matters? As the Americans with Disabilities Act acknowledges - negative results flow from being labelled, irrespective of the accuracy of the label applied. Thus, one may be dumped on merely for being 'reputed as being disabled' or having a relationship with someone who is. Despite all the work in the interim, Paul Hunt's 1966 thesis still holds true folks: 'people with impairments are viewed as 'unfortunate, useless, different, oppressed and sick' - they pose a direct challenge to commonly held Western values.' 'People with impairments are: ? 'unfortunate' because they are seen as unable to 'enjoy' material and social benefits of modern society ? 'useless' because they are considered unable to contribute to 'economic good of the community' ? marked as 'minority group' members because, like ethnic minorities and homosexuals, they are perceived as 'abnormal' and 'different'. I am not sure that novel methods of 'conceptualising' disability/impairment take us very far - it doesn't matter what labels we give it, or terribly much how it got there in the first place - as d.p.'s we really don't matter to very many people, until we start costing too much or getting 'uppity'. Yours in resigned cynicism Richard Light %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%