Disability on a Different Model: Glimpses of an Asian heritage
- 1 June 2000
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Disability & Society
- Vol. 15 (4), 603-618
- https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590050058206
Abstract
The paper reviews common uses of models and terminology, then sketches a few social responses to disablement in historical Zoroastrian, Jaina and Daoist philosophies. Accompanying a discussion of the 'merits of uselessness', Chuang-tzu's holistic social model is reconstructed. A Buddhist tale of 'hunchback Khujjutara' suggests that karma may usefully be seen as an educational, rather than retributive force. Contested histories of blind Japanese and Chinese people, and the dramatic enactment of contradictory behaviour towards them, support the view that Asian meanings of disablement should not be forced into modern European categories, but may challenge and refresh them.Keywords
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