A-Infos (en) Canada, linchpin.ca*: Review: by Karine Wehlm of Disability Politics and Theory By AJ Withers

"(D)isability falls somewhere in a constellation. Like the constellation in the sky, 
disability is in constant flux and appears different depending on the positioning of the 
onlooker." p.99 * Disability Politics and Theory is an excellent new book that critically 
examines the key models of disability that have shaped how disability and disabled people 
have been viewed in North America throughout the capitalist era and to this current day. 
The book's author, AJ Withers applies an intersectional and anti-capitalist analysis on 
these models and suggests an alternative model, the radical model of disability, as a 
analytical tool to move the disabled people’s movement forward. Withers' arguments stem 
from an understanding that multiple oppressions are intertwined with one another and 
cannot be dealt with separately.

The author also argues that capitalism is inherently problematic since, among other 
things, it assigns individual self-worth and value based on whether one can work for a 
wage (and so produce profits for someone else). Withers ends with a call for both 
non-disabled people’s movements and the disabled people’s movement to organize inclusively 
for social justice and radical access.

The book begins by explaining the Eugenic model, the Medical model and the Charity model – 
all of which individualize disability and emphasize the necessity to cure, reduce or 
eliminate disability, rather than focusing efforts on improving disabled people’s 
conditions by reducing barriers and giving them power back over their lives. These models 
all stem from the belief that the problems posed by disability are inherent to disabled 
individuals themselves, rather than products of the negative reaction of society to human 
diversity. Withers goes on to explain how these models are still widely applied today: the 
Medical model still being the dominant mainstream model for dealing with disability and 
the Eugenic model still operating, for example, in the field of genetic research on 
reproduction.

The author goes on to explain the importance of the Disability Rights movement model and 
the Social model, while maintaining a critical analysis of both. The Disability Rights 
movement views disabled people as a minority. This movement fights to end discrimination 
towards disabled people and to help them become accepted in the current society; the 
Social model, on the other hand, demands a change in society itself. This model heralded 
an important shift in thinking about disability and was a response to the 
individualization of disability posed by the earlier models. The Social model separates 
impairment, which is part of an individual’s characteristics, from disability, which is 
"the oppression that people with impairment face" (p. 86.). For example, for a person 
using a wheelchair to move around town, their impairment could be the fact that their legs 
are paralysed while their disability could be their inability to access a building because 
of stairs. In the Social model, a person is only disabled if the environment and society 
is not accessible or adapted to their needs. It is the environment and society that needs 
to change and not the person with the impairment. Disability is therefore a social 
construct and not inherent to the disabled person.

Withers finishes by explaining an alternative model, the Radical model of disability, 
which tries to address both the oppression of disabled people and disabled minds and 
bodies while intersecting with other forms of oppression. By choosing to speak in terms of 
minds and bodies, the author means who and what we are: we are physical, mental, 
intellectual, sensory bodies and minds. We have different ages, life experiences, 
cultures, languages, skin colours, genders, sexuality and class backgrounds. The radical 
model rejects the binary of impairment and disability in the Social model and sees 
impairment as also a social construct, because of the fact that impairment too has 
different meanings depending on the society we live in. To take the same example as 
before, a person unable to use their legs would be in an entirely different situation if 
we lived in an environment where there were no stairs. In this case, the meaning assigned 
to this particular physical fact would be something different. Withers chooses to talk 
about minds and bodies as a much more inclusive and non-oppressive way of discussing our 
difficulties, because we all have our challenges, disabled and non-disabled people alike. 
Using the words minds and bodies is an attempt to move away from categorical labels and 
towards a terminology that includes us all.

Withers also proposes an alternative to universal accessibility. Although universal 
accessibility is already much more inclusive than just adding a ramp to a building, 
because it tries to address in a comprehensive way all accessibility needs relating to the 
physical environment, it only addresses the physical aspect of the environment. Radical 
access, instead, articulates a broad accessibility analysis that is inclusive of other 
oppressions, such as the inability to afford a ride on the bus – even though it can be 
accessed using a wheelchair.

One thing that caught my attention in this book is how Withers dismantles the myth of 
independence. Being independent means that someone can do a task by themselves, without 
needing the help of anyone. Withers instead argues that we are all interdependent – after 
all, very few of us make our own clothes or grow our own food. It is simply that certain 
dependencies have been normalized, while others have been marginalized. I would also add 
that we should aim at being autonomous rather than this ideal of being independent, which 
means being able to make our own choices in our lives. This includes choosing to have help 
or not. Very few people can say they are truly autonomous because of the way our society 
grants control and power to a few. Only real social change, including the abolishment of 
capitalism, hierarchy and the fight against all forms of oppression will make this 
possible for everyone.

Disability Politics and Theory is an easy-to-read book giving a thorough analysis of the 
key concepts and models of disability. It is an eye-opener on disability and it should be 
read by anybody seeking to move this society towards social justice. This book is urging 
us to fight to create the changes we want, because they won’t be handed to us. "We must 
work in solidarity with other marginalized groups, and we must get past our differences 
and fight for justice, dignity, equality and access." (p.120)
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* Electronic journal of the anarchist Common Cause
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