ABSTRACT
Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum are the pioneers of the capability approaches, but many scholars across the world have applied it in various fields of inquiry. Sen’s priority lies in identifying social injustices and his approach supports comparative assessments of wellbeing for people with disabilities. Nussbaum’s capabilities approach is influenced by Aristotelian philosophy and it aims to be a theory of justice. Within the mainstream capability approaches, there are many scholars who have extended and applied Sen’s capability approach and Nussbaum’s capabilities approach to various fields according to their own interpretations and preferences. Capabilities are various practical freedoms and opportunities for individuals to pursue and achieve what they value. The capability approaches recognise the highly complex ways in which various factors intersect and inter-relate to produce both individual and group experiences that influence the lives of people. The value of capability approaches in disability studies is their focus on freedoms and opportunities available to people to pursue what they value.
