I hope this clears the matter up.
The term 'able' in able-bodied originally referred to their ability to be press ganged in to the Royal Navy, it denotes having the ability to climb the riggings in a storm.
The term disability is a legal term that denotes the loss of a legal ability such as the right to vote, to trade, etc.
The term 'disability' refers to the Greek "Dis" meaning 'without' and 'ability' (see above). Throughout history many people have been disabled, many without physical or mental impairments. Nelson Mandela correctly stated while on trial that "as a black man he was disabled by apartheid"; Openly Jewish and Catholic men suffered civil disabilities in the 19th century by being denied the vote; Adult women were also disabled in the United Kingdom until 1928, etc. IMO The majority of people with physical impairments are disabled by society and it's laws.
When referring to a persons 'medical' condition the World Health Organisation (WHO) uses the term 'impairment'.
For references you can go to :
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/disabilitystudies>
Keith
Keith Armstrong
On Sun, 10 Feb 2002 17:26:43 +0000
Michael Morgan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> No I simply meant any sensible definition of disability must be grounded in
> physical reality. The word disability - DIS-ABILITY - means lack or loss of
> physical or mental ability. The term itself is inherently negative because
> the reality is. It is conceived as functional loss following disease, injury
> etc - the original impairment . At its simplest it states some obvious
> bio-medical facts: blind people canšt see, deaf people canšt hear, spinal
> injured people canšt walk, etc. This is 'loss' at a physical level and
> doesn't necessarily have anything to do with psychological loss which some
> list-members seem to think.
>
> Of course 'disability' means a lot more than just the physical - there is a
> social dimension, a psychological dimension, sexual dimension et al. But it
> must refer in a primary sense to an objectively measurable physical reality,
> otherwise we're lost. Disability is indeed a complex phenomenon which defies
> any simplistic definition but it must be grounded in reality.
--
We only have one planet.
People who fly planes and drop bombs are terrorists.
________________End of message______________________
Archives and tools for the Disability-Research Discussion List
are now located at:
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
You can JOIN or LEAVE the list from this web page.
|