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American Pragmatism, Sociology and the Development of Disability Studies
emergent field that spans the boundaries of academia, personal
experience, political activism and public policy.
There are six contentious propositions that shape discussion in the
field: 1) people interested in disability share a common universe of
discourse, 2) leaders and spokespeople in the field represent all
disabled people 3) only disabled people can effectively understand
disability or contribute to the field, 4) disability studies is an
established field with a home 5) disability studies shares a common
history and intellectual tradition across countries and throughout
history, and 6) people in the field generally agree on health and
welfare policies for disabled people and what constitutes “reasonable
accommodation”, “empowerment” and “quality of life.” These
propositions provoke heated debates in the disability studies
literature and the popular press over the experiences, meanings,
context and consequences of disability (LINTON 1998; BARNES
1999; GREENHOUSE 2001). They also represent the fault lines in
disability studies where politically correct values are applied to
argue for a position or to silence dissent. For this reason, it is as
important to study the values of participants in the disability
discourse, the politics and ideologies of the actors, and the
attitudes, values, structure and culture of the society in which the
discourse takes place as it is to collect and consider evidence in
support of a position. Although there is considerable disagreement
among participants in the disability discourse, the passion of their
arguments attests to the vitality of the field and importance of the
issues (CORKER AND FRENCH 1999; ALTMAN AND BARNARTT
2000; ALBRECHT, SEELMAN AND BURY 2001).
While there are universal questions that have been addressed
across national boundaries and perspectives, the maturation of a
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