The Disabler, the Disablee and their Context: a Tripartite View of Disability

摘要

What we refer to as disability is not a passive, static situation. Rather, it is a dynamic process. It can be thought of as a drama. A drama needs a theatre, which in this case is the social, cultural, political and physical environment within which all interactions, including engagement in occupation, occur. It can be empowering or disabling or, most commonly, both. Empowerment can take the form of legislation, such as the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, or positive attitudes towards disabled people. Disablement may occur due to the inaccessibility of physical spaces or the lack of appropriate transportation or it may be the result of social scripts and metaphors (Kelly 2001).