ABSTRACT
An absolutist integrationist perspective disserves the disability community by supporting an inappropriately high threshold for the development and retention of disability-only services and institutions. An anti-subordination perspective should replace it. This chapter discusses the anti-subordination model based on Catharine MacKinnon's path-breaking work in feminist theory. One of the key advantages of an anti-subordination model is that it places the focus of the inequality paradigm on groups that have historically faced mistreatment. The chapter demonstrates how the tension between formal equality and anti-subordination developed. It argues that disability equality theory must embrace an anti-subordination perspective in order to attain meaningful equality for individuals with disabilities. The chapter also discusses the deinstitutionalization movement to show how a more nuanced perspective on integration might help attain better policy outcomes there as well. The challenge is to find the "appropriate balance between liberty and paternalism that will maximize individual and societal rights to physical safety and well-being."
