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Cultural Construction Of Disability Essay

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Cultural Construction Of Disability Essay
There is a social contribution to the conceptualization of disability. Like gender, disability is socially constructed by determining normality and excluding those who do not meet the normal standards. Social factors that construct disability include spread of diseases and privation of basic needs following wars, invasions, etc. In addition, lack of good medical care and practices can create or prevent physical disabilities. In addition, the increases in the pace of life contribute to an increase in disabled people, because fewer people would be able to perform normally. And even if there are improvements in accessibility, there are still people whose energy is limited and cannot meet the expectations of the increased pace of life. Another social factor is that …show more content…
This stereotyping result in widening the gap between non-disabled and disabled people, increasing non-disabled people’s fear of disability because of their limited knowledge of how people live with a disability. Cultural construction of disability depends on the concept of the ‘normal’ in a certain culture and how far differences are accepted. Furthermore, although the body is very influenced by cultural representations, it cannot be considered a cultural representation. Disability can be socially deconstructed if we make a good balance between thinking of disability as given by nature and thinking of them as constructed by society and culture. Also, it can be deconstructed by providing more accessibility to disabled people by minor changes in our environment that is initially constructed for normal people. One of the most important ideas that need to be changed in order to deconstruct disability is that several problems that disabled people encounter are actually not arising from their illness, but rather arising from their built

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