Natural Deficiency or Social Oppression? The Capabilities Approach to Justice for People with Disabilities

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 500-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Distributive Justice ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Capabilities Approach ◽  
Personal Attributes ◽  
Social Oppression ◽  
Conceptual Resources

Theories of distributive justice are often criticised for either excluding people with disabilities from the domain of justice altogether, or casting them as deficient in personal attributes. I argue that the capabilities approach to justice is largely immune to these flaws. It has the conceptual resources to locate most of the causes of disadvantage in the interaction between a person and her environment and in doing so can characterise the disadvantages of disability in a way that avoids the imputation of natural deficiency. However, I also argue that the capabilities approach cannot accommodate some of the stronger claims advanced by some disability scholars. No plausible capabilities approach can guarantee that social change will always be the just or fair remedy for disadvantage, and there is a small number of severe cases of disability where capability shortfalls will be attributed to the person’s ‘deficient’ physical and mental impairments.

Disability and Disadvantage in the Capabilities Approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 228-244
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Riddle
Keyword(s):  
Distributive Justice ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Capabilities Approach

This chapter argues that within the realm of justice, not all goods or opportunities are the same—a failure to secure some goods results in mere disadvantage, while a failure to secure other goods results in corrosive disadvantage. If a disadvantage adversely impacts one’s ability to secure other goods or opportunities, we should regard it as being corrosive in nature and thus give it higher priority within a theory of distributive justice. This chapter suggests that with respect to the capabilities approach, an understanding of disadvantage that recognizes the often-corrosive nature of the experience of disability would require us to prioritize some capabilities over others. More pointedly, a capability theorist’s refusal to acknowledge the need to prioritize some capabilities over others is a failing of basic justice and would result in the compounding of injustice against people with disabilities.

Laws and How They Affect the Everyday Lives of People with Disabilities

2021 ◽  
pp. 55-73
Author(s):  
Rhoda Olkin
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Distributive Justice ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Disability Laws ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
The Impact

For persons who are minorities, the impact of laws can be very directly experienced in day-to-day life. The myriad laws related to disability are scattered across many laws and throughout many agencies and can be hard to locate. Some of the laws, rules and regulations help, but some also hinder, the daily lives of the disabled. How the labyrinth of laws places a burden on people with disabilities is highlighted. There are four activities in this chapter. The first has students focus on laws that affect their everyday lives. In the second activity the concept of ‘separate but not equal’ is the focus. A third activity entails a comparison of social justice versus distributive justice as it applies to disability. In the fourth activity a game of ‘Eye Spy’ concentrates on the application of disability laws.

"Mental Illness" and Justice as Recognition

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Goering
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Psychiatric Disability ◽  
Social Oppression ◽  
Human Community

Disability scholars have argued that the disadvantage of disability is caused primarily by social factors and calls out for social change as a matter of justice. But what about psychiatric disability? While noting several factors that make psychiatric disability a special casethe mentally ill individuals unreliability of judgment and instability of functioningSara Goering argues that much is gained by viewing mental illness through the lens of social oppression and workingtoward recognition of individuals with mental illness as equal members of the human community

scholarly journals Social change and psychological harmony among families of people with special needs in Palestinian society: A Study on a sample of families of people with special needs in the city of Nablus – Palestine: التغير الاجتماعي والتوافق النفسي لدى أسر ذوي الاحتياجات الخاصة في المجتمع الفلسطيني: دراسة على عينة من أسر ذوي الاحتياجات الخاصة في مدينة نابلس – فلسطين –

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelmajid Nayif Alawneh
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Special Needs ◽  
Psychological Stress ◽  
Family Members ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Social Background ◽  
A Value ◽  
Degree Of Disability ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

The aim of this research is to know the extent of the impact of the category of people with special needs on family members, specifically on the levels of social change and psychological compatibility in terms of showing the factors specific to this group, and clarify the nature of the relationship between this group and the variables of social background for them and their families, and identify their characteristics, and the extent of the impact of their presence on individuals Their families, and this research used the descriptive analytical method and the questionnaire tool, in addition to that the sample taken in this research amounted to (177) from the families of the Palestinian community in which there is an individual with special needs specifically from the people of this category in one of the Palestinian cities. In the northern West Bank, which is the city of Nablus, the researcher used the sample with its intended type. It was found that the majority of individuals with special needs are male, small and medium ages, and those with an average degree of disability as a result of life reasons and their duration is mostly average as well. As for the data on the degree of social change, it came in a way between medium and large and amounted to (4.75%) in the various fields of this social change, which was represented by the change in life, which came with a value of (79.1%), and the change in values ​​came with a value (78.5%) The change in behavior came with a value of (75.7%), the change in the degree of solicitation and the extent of receptivity in assisting people with disabilities, which came with a value of (73.4%), and the change in culture represented by the ability to adapt and the degree of vulnerability came with a value of (70.1%). As for the degree of psychological compatibility, it came very significantly, and reached a value of (88%) as a result of being affected by the existing disability, and that psychological compatibility represented in all areas of this compatibility, such as a change in feeling and feeling, which came with a value that reached (91%) And the extent of the psychological stress, which came with a value of (90.4%), the extent of the individual’s feeling of comfort or unhappiness and came with a value of (88.7%), the nature of the treatment with family members came with a value of (85.3%), and the extent of the presence of psychological stress that came with a value of (83.1%). This study reached a number of results, namely that there is a relationship between the social variables of individuals in need T own degrees of social change and psychological compatibility of the families of this category of people with disabilities such as sex, age, and degree of disability, and the cause of disability, and the duration of disability, the study recommended the need for cooperation between people with disabilities and their families, and the distribution of tasks among members of families with special needs to help them.

scholarly journals Literature as Activism - From Entertainment to Challenging Social Norms: Michael Nava’s Goldenboy (1988)

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Angelos Bollas
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Detective Fiction ◽  
Crime Fiction ◽  
Social Oppression ◽  
Homophobic Violence ◽  
Central Argument

The aim of this article is to examine how Michael Nava appropriates the conventions of Detective/Crime Fiction to engage in artivism, whereby art is used to challenge sexual and ethnic social oppression and inequality. By providing an analysis of the heteronormative conventions of the Detective and Crime Fiction genre, the article focuses on the ways in which narratives portray homophobic violence, as well as on the fact that such portrayals result from and contribute to the promotion of heteronormative hegemonies. Following this, I focus on Michael Nava’s Goldenboy (1988) and I analyse Nava’s writing in relation to the wider Chicano tradition of using art to engage in activism, what has been termed as ‘artivism.’ The central argument of this paper is that Nava ‘queers’ the form of the Detective Fiction genre to highlight the shortcomings of our society, the effects of the hegemonial heteronormativity, and the need for social change.

scholarly journals The Optimal Taxation of Height: A Case Study of Utilitarian Income Redistribution

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Gregory Mankiw ◽  
Matthew Weinzierl
Keyword(s):  
Distributive Justice ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Optimal Taxation ◽  
Income Redistribution ◽  
Personal Attributes ◽  
Using Data

Should the income tax include a credit for short taxpayers and a surcharge for tall ones? The standard utilitarian framework for tax analysis answers this question in the affirmative. Moreover, a plausible parameterization using data on height and wages implies a substantial height tax: a tall person earning $50,000 should pay $4,500 more in tax than a short person. One interpretation is that personal attributes correlated with wages should be considered more widely for determining taxes. Alternatively, if policies such as a height tax are rejected, then the standard utilitarian framework must fail to capture intuitive notions of distributive justice. (JEL D64, H21, H23, H24, J11)

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