Disability

Question 1

Person vs Identity first

Answer 1

Person first = ‘people with epilepsy’, shared humanity and uniqueness, multi-faceted identities

Identity first = ‘autistic people’, disability as central, defining charateristic that cannot be separated from the individual, embraces and destigmatises disability identity….

Question 2

Medical vs. Social model

Answer 2

Medical: Disability = impairment
Impairment needs to be treated, cured, fixed or at least rehabilitated

Social: Disability ≠ impairment
Impairment is individual and private; disability is structural and public.

Doctors and professions seek to remedy impairment, the real priority is to accept impairment and to remove disability

medical sees disability as an individual political issue, social sees disability inequality as a collective issue

Question 3

Disability as…

Answer 3

(bio/neuro) diversity

social construct

capitalism

gendered, racialised, intersectional

Question 4

gap between low DR and high SR…features

Answer 4

15% population disabled, yet 1% of representatives - gap between low descriptive representation, high substantive representation - it is a FREQUENT topic (mentioned 7x day in UK)

Question 5

Classic or dominant motivations behind group representation

Answer 5

Group membership

Group votes

Group affiliation

Question 6

Intrinsic

Answer 6

Moral duty to represent (moral obligation, personal and social experiences) - Disability - Proximity - Solidarity

Assumed responsibility to represent (chosen commitment/position, triggered by ideological, positional, occupational connections to disability) - Ideology - Occupation

Question 7

Extrinsic

Answer 7

Rewards for representing (absence/presence of external rewards, electoral or campaign links to disability) Electoral - Geographic presence of disabled ‘sub-constituency’

Question 8

Modes of Disability Representation (Traditional)

Answer 8

Medical: disability is presented as an illness that needs to be treated

Social pathology: disabled people are dependent on state / society for support

Supercrip: disabled people are ‘superhuman’ ‘in spite of’ their disability

Business: disabled people are presented as costly to society, to businesses especially

Question 9

Modes of Disability Representation (Progressive)

Answer 9

Minority / civil rights: disabled people are a minority group who have legitimate rights

Legal: disabled people are a group with specific legal and human rights

Cultural pluralism: disabled people are multi-faceted, disability is one of many differences

Consumer: disabled people are presented as a consumer group with certain wishes

Question 10

Findings of Ruth’s research

Answer 10

Frequency: Representation increased over time, most questions were to ministers (90%) rather than prime ministers, there were ‘occasional’ and ‘prolific’ MPs

Substance: 2/3 used progressive models. More progressively framed questions in Scotland (74%) and lower in the UK and ANZ (64% and 60%)…

Personal Duty (disabled parliamentarians were 1% but asked 4.6% Qs) - Familial Duty - Gender Duty - Minority Duty - Ideological responsibility (2/3 prog rep done by those on the ideological left) - Professional responsibility - Electoral responsibility

Connections to disability seem to increase frequency, but substance is more complicated. prog rep is tied to personal, deeper connections. trad rep is connected to transactional, looser ties.