ABSTRACT
The issues of disability are not straightforward for the factors involved are complex and contentious. They are complex because they are affected by social, political, and economic issues and contentious because disabled people perceive that much of the practice for managing disability has evolved from the dominance of professional and medical opinion. This chapter will first consider the different models of disability and then look at deafness in this broader context. Terminology linked to disability issues will be discussed and the growth of the disability movement will be traced together with an exploration of current responses to the disability movement by the Deaf community. 1
