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The definition of disability is of interest to disability policymakers and analysts because it has fundamental implications for eligibility for public programs, for the scope of legislation, and for the way disability prevalence is measured. The purpose of this article is to assess how an approach developed in economics to analyze issues related to the standard of living, the so-called capability approach, may help us understand disability at the conceptual level. The article first summarizes different theoretical models of disability (the medical model, the social model, the Nagi model, and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health of the World Health Organization) and then presents the main components of the capability approach. The capability approach allows researchers to analyze (a) disability at the capability level; (b) potential disability; and, at the functioning level, (c) actual disability. This framework also helps explain how disability may result from three types of factors: the individual's personal characteristics (e.g., impairment, age, race, gender), the individual's resources, and the individual's environment (physical, social, economic, political). The article explores some implications of the capability approach for analyzing the employment and the standard of living of persons with disabilities.
To the layperson, the meaning of disability is clear and simple: It means "the inability to do something." However, in disability and social science research, there is no consensus on what constitutes disability. There are no commonly accepted ways to define disability and to measure it. Disability has been subject to many definitions in different disciplines and for different purposes. It has been described from medical, sociological, and political perspectives, and definitions of disability have been developed and used in different contexts. Various operational definitions have been used for clinical circumstances and administrative programs, and several theoretical models have been developed (Altman, 2001). Why has there been so much effort dedicated to defining disability? At the theoretical level, defining disability is not simply an exercise in semantics: Altering the theoretical definition of disability can have farreaching social, economic, and political implications. Administrative programs and laws use definitions that define program eligibility and legislation coverage. Those definitions, which directly affect the lives of persons with disabilities, are typically based on theoretical models. The importance of defining disability for persons with impairments, activists,...