Attitudes to disability

The last step explored what having a disability means to individuals, from a personal perspective. In this step, Professor Tom Shakespeare from the University of East Anglia contextualises previous debate and tensions in defining and describing disability in the context of global health.

Professor Shakespeare, who co-authored the World Report on Disability whilst previously working at the WHO, has had a long involvement with the disabled people’s movement both in the UK and internationally.

In this video, he describes how different attitudes towards disability, and the response of disabled people to this in the 1970s, changed the way that disability was understood and described both in the UK and beyond. He explains the positive advocacy that arose from this movement, and the way that thinking about disability has started to develop even further since.

Perhaps use the comment section below to reflect on Professor Shakespeare’s interview, and prevailing attitudes to disability in your setting.