Social Construction Of Disability Analysis

In the reading, “The Social Construction of Disability”, different constructs of disability are made. One will realize that social construct and disability are hard to distinguish because combined they define what “disability” is. The social construct of disability can be used to create or prevent disabilities (Wendell). By this people who are tall have doors made for them, so they do not have to hunch over every time they enter a door, people in wheelchairs with accessible ramps, shorts people having lower cabinets, so they do not have to struggle.
Social construct is organized into two categories: social conditions and subtle cultural factors. Subtle cultural factors include not giving people they help to deserve and need to make it through …show more content…
It is the social factor that effects the same group of people more than another group because of things such as racism, sexism, wealth, education, and heterosexism (Wendell). For example, intersectionality affects African American women because they are seen as undesirable in society. They must fight ten times hard to be placed in prestigious positions in the workplace. If these African American women are unemployment and independent, it will lead to the subtle cultural factors of disability. Another example of this phenomena is that majority of the time rich children have more access to educational tools, so they tend to exceed more than children in poverty. Although this is not always true, it is easier for them to attend private schools, be in after school activities meaning that they will not be running the streets falling into drugs and crime, and they stress less about being able to afford college and …show more content…
Culture affects disabilities in two ways: cultural stereotyping of people with disabilities and erasing disabilities from an entire cultural and way of life. The representation of disabilities lead to the “otherness” in people. This lack of knowledge instills fear into people with disabilities to accept their disabilities. Lastly, it suppresses knowledge of how people with disability live (Wendell). Cultural stereotyping is that people with disabilities are dependent, have no sexual desires, and superhumanly heroic. It is hard for people with disabilities to participate in work and social life (Wendell). These common stereotypes cause the divided between people with disabilities and people without disabilities in society. Cultural is also perceived as bodily differences. For example, a curvy woman may feel more anxiety walking into a room with males who see curves as undesirable. This creates an unconscious insecurity that women with curve are not undesirable to society a