ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between culture and the oppression of disabled people and provides socio-political approaches to disability. It examines cultural variations in perceptions of impairment and looks at social responses to people with impairments in western culture prior to industrialisation, with particular emphasis on developments in Britain — the birthplace of industrial capitalism. The chapter shows that disability or the oppression of disabled people can be traced back to the origins of western society, and the material and cultural forces which created the myth of ‘bodily perfection’ or the ‘able-bodied’ ideal. It focuses on cultural variations in perceptions of impairment. This is followed by a materialist explanation of the oppression of people with impairments which focuses upon the cultural antecedents of western capitalism prior to industrialisation. Materialist analyses have argued that the basis of disabled people’s oppression is founded upon the material and cultural changes which accompanied the emergence of western capitalism in the 19th century.
