ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the historical development of a broader disability paradigm stemming from the Soviet Union's political, social, and economic ideologies and values. The statement was patently absurd, but it highlighted a long history of Soviet policies that excluded people with disabilities from participation in broader society. In this case, the Soviet official denied their very existence, in effect rendering people with disabilities invisible within Soviet society and to the international community. Disability studies scholarship has grown greatly over the last few decades, but that research is primarily “Western-centric” and focused on the Global North. In contrast, the study of contemporary disability and development in developing countries or the Global South has lagged far behind. Scholars in disability studies generally recognize three main models of disability: medical, social, and functional models of disability. The medical model of disability, which is still prevalent in most post-Soviet countries, perceives a disability as an illness that needs to be cured.
