ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the main features of the social model of disability and discusses the limitations of such a model. The limitations partly explain why racialized groups in general, and those living with sickle cell disease (SCD) in particular, may have problems recognizing their own challenges within this model. The chapter explores this further through an examination of the theory of stigma, and through a case study of living with SCD and depression in Nigeria, a study which attempts to apply the social model of disability to SCD. It focuses on working through the implications of the social model of disability with respect to particular contexts. The chapter considers the sociological concept of stigma in relation to sickle cell disease. It deals with a brief exposition of the original meaning of the term stigma when used sociologically and, in particular, its development by the US sociologist whose work brought the term to wider attention, Erving Goffman.
