Disability and Health

In this chapter I explore two main concepts. First, I ask how, if at all, health differs from disability. I argue that health and disability, when properly regarded, can be viewed similarly and that people with disabilities are rightly regarded as having a decrement in health. Second, I ask precisely what it is that we mean when we talk about disability. I explore the origins of the social model of disability and argue that while not without political usefulness, it is an incorrect way of viewing disability. Instead, I suggest that the interactional model of disability is a more accurate conceptualization of the experience of disability.