The body as the problem of individuality
a phenomenological disability studies approach
pp. 127-142
in: Dan Goodley, Bill Hughes, Lennard Davis (eds), Disability and social theory, Berlin, Springer, 2012Abstract
Disability, as Paul Abberley (1998: 93) reminds us, is interesting often only as a problem. Or as Bill Hughes (2007: 673) puts it, "almost by definition, [we] assume disability to be ontologically problematic, and many disabled people feel that many of the people with whom they interact in everyday situations treat them as if they are invisible, repulsive or "not all there"'. What interests us from a phenomenological perspective is that the contemporary scene of disability framed as "problem' typically generates the requirement for explanation and amelioration, but little else. Thus, this chapter examines the hegemonic taken-for-granted character of the disability-as-a-problem frame.
