Valuing disability as a part of one’s core identity is a principle of social empowerment.
Yet, to be sure, understanding the roles of environment and public attitude in the creation of disability does not necessarily preclude a wish for medical treatment or for being less different.
The social model assumes that disability is malleable and a product of culture. Understanding disability as fundamental to human existence and shaped by society has become more widespread since the 1960s. Some people place disability in a category similar to ethnicity, skin color, and gender.
Image Gallery
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The Flex-Foot design of this limb and the “Cheetah leg” used by Paralympians came from athlete and amputee Van Phillips. Its striking decoration with vines and lizards indicates that the wearer had no intention of hiding it from others.
This comic book shows the blind Marvel comic book superhero Daredevil--“the man without fear”-- in his red body suit and mask, swinging over a city street while people below cower and cringe because they have lost their vision in a villain’s evil plot.
This group image includes toys, disability rights buttons, an artificial leg, and other objects that illustrate disability as positive and empowering.
White, orange, and yellow button with the words “Crips Are Beautiful", 1995
A group of disabled WWII vets toured the country in the 1940s in a show called It's a Great Day. Here two muscular, shirtless men onstage in hospital chairs balance a shapely woman acrobat.
A blue and white button depicts two hands forming the sign letters “D” and “P”, and reads “Deaf Pride”.
This button was made to protest Jerry Lewis and the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s charity approach to children with disabilities.
Barbie’s friend, Wheelchair Becky, with long blonde hair, wearing blue jeans, red sneakers, and holding a camera and sunglasses, was introduced in 1997. In 1998 she became the class photographer and in 2000 a para-olympic athlete.
A worn leather oxford with 19th-century metal brace and a contemporary child’s sneaker with two red-with-polka-dots inserts made for children whose foot twists inward. The shoes, made over 100 years apart, illustrate dramatic changes in the aesthetics, understanding, and stigma related to disability.
These earrings in the shape of the universal access symbol were made by ADAPT, a disability rights group with members around the United States.
Sign: "I have evolved past the need for legs", 2010
The prosthetic limb depicted here has a claw-cleat foot, spring-action shock absorber, and metal-reinforced plastic socket, with a boot-tread foot attachment beside it. Dave Franke wore this metal Flex-Foot limb when he climbed Kathmandu in Nepal.
Ritalin is a prescription drug used to treat attention-deficit disorder (ADD). This 2009 white bumper sticker reads “Just Say No to Ritalin” in red letters.
This ESPN magazine cover features runner Sarah Reinertsen, who has long blonde hair, a sprint leg, and is nude but seated demurely.
Frank Fithen in a driving cap, stands by his open-top roadster. Frank lost both arms in a railroad accident as a youth. He made a living touring the country, driving cars at fast speeds.
This American flag from the 1990s is a lap blanket embroidered with the stars forming a universal access symbol. It was made by a member of ADAPT, a disability rights group.
This small, soft, black, toy cat wears a red ADAPT T-Shirt, in support of disability rights, 2003.
Black T-Shirt with “Piss on Pity” in hot-pink letters, 2004
Lavender T-shirt, “I am not a case, and I don’t need to be managed!” in white letters, 2002