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The Glossary is a work in progress and might have to be extended in the future or
changed depending on science and technology and societal developments Version
February 2009
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Glossary for the 21st Century a starting
point by Dr. Gregor Wolbring |
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Term |
Definition |
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Disability |
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If one hears the term disability or disabled person or people with a disability… often two different aspects are covered by the term disability a) its used to used to label the body and its functioning as deficient as impaired as non normative as sub normative based on species typical expectations and b) its used to describe the social environmental parameter a person with a certain body functioning faces. I do believe it is better to use different terms for the two areas of body image and social reality. This is reflected in the definitions below. Also as disability is used in these two orders 'disabled person' or 'person with a disability' within the context of this glossary the order is irrelevant as both orders have the same interpretation of the term disability they use. So I do not adhere here to one or the other order. |
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Medical model of Disability |
People disabled by their body-structure related -'as impaired labelled'- sub species-typical functioning |
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Social model of disability |
People disabled by the attitudinal and environmental barriers they experience due to their body-structure related sub species-typical functioning that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others |
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Transhumanized medical model of disability |
People disabled by their body structure related -'as impaired labelled'- sub species and species-typical functioning (everyone not performing beyond species-typical functioning). |
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Transhumanized
social model of disability |
People
disabled by the attitudinal and environmental barriers they experience due to
their body-structure related sub species
and species- typical functioning that hinder their full and effective
participation in society on an equal basis with others
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The body image |
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Impairment/medical
deficiency model of the body/body image |
A body that is labelled to function sub species- typical |
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Transhumanized version of Impairment/medical deficiency model of the body/body image |
A body that is labelled to function sub species and species-typical |
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Vari-ability/
non medical/non deficiency model of the body/body image |
A vari-ability in bodily functioning that differs from the species-typical norm but does not exceed the species-typical norm and is seen as a variation and not a deviation |
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Transhumanized
understanding of Variability/ non
medical/non deficiency model of the body/body image |
A vari-ability in bodily functioning that exceed the species-typical norm and is seen as a variation and not a deviation |
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The person |
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Disabled person/Person with a Disability |
Everyone who encounters body structure/function ableism related attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders one’s full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others, |
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Impaired person/ Person with an Impairment |
Everyone who identifies oneself as having a subnormative functioning, deficient body based on a species-typical norm. |
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Vari-abled person Person with a vari-abled Body |
Everyone who identifies oneself as having a vari-ability in bodily functioning that differs from the species-typical norm but does not exceed the species typical norm. |
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Vari-abled and disabled person |
Everyone who identifies oneself as having a vari-ability in bodily functioning that differs from the species typical norm and who encounters body structure/function related, ableism related attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder one’s full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. |
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Impaired and disabled person |
Everyone who identifies oneself as having subnormative, deficient bodily functioning based on a species typical norm and who encounters body structure/function related, ableism related attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder one’s full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. |
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Transhumanized impaired person (techno poor impaired person) |
Everyone who identifies oneself as being deficient because one is not able to improve oneself beyond Homo sapiens normative functioning whether through a) external means by shaping the environment, or b) internal means by modifying ones bodily structures. |
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Transhumanized disabled person |
Everyone who is not enhanced beyond Homo sapiens normative functioning whether through a) external means by shaping the environment, or b) internal means by modifying ones bodily structures and who encounters body structure/function related attitudinal and environmental barriers mostly justified by a transhumanized version of ableism that hinder one’s full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. |
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Transhumanized impaired and disabled person (techno poor impaired and disabled person) |
Everyone who identifies oneself as being deficient because one is not able to improve oneself beyond Homo sapiens normative functioning whether through a) external means by shaping the environment, or b) internal means by modifying ones bodily structures and who encounters attitudinal and environmental barriers mostly justified by a transhumanized version of ableism that hinder one’s full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others, |
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Transhumanized vari-abled person |
Everyone who identifies oneself as having a beyond species-typical functioning variability in bodily functioning that differs from the species-typical norm. This could be achieved by a) external means by shaping the environment, or b) internal means by modifying ones bodily structures |
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Transhumanized vari-abled and disabled person |
Everyone who identifies oneself as having a beyond species-typical functioning variability in bodily functioning that differs from the species-typical norm and was achieved through a) external means by shaping the environment, or b) internal means by modifying ones bodily structures and who therefore encounters attitudinal and environmental barriers mostly justified by an Anti-transhumanized version of ableism that hinder one’s full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. |
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Examples of different
combination of body image/image of the person and concept of disability |
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Social model of disability, medical model of the person; impaired disabled person |
disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments (sub species-typical functioning) and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others, |
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Social and medical model of disability, medical model of the person; impaired disabled person |
the outcome or result of a complex relationship between an individual’s health condition and personal factors, and of the external factors that represent the circumstances in which the individual lives |
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Social model of disability, neutral model of the person |
results from the interaction between a person with a given body structure related functioning and attitudinal and environmental barriers persons face due to their body structure related functioning that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others, |
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Social model of disability, social model of the
person; vari-abled disabled person
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results from the interaction between a person with a variation in body structure related functioning and attitudinal and environmental barriers persons face due to their variation in body structure related functioning that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others, |
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Social model of disability, transhumanist model of the person; transhuman impaired person |
disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments (species and sub-species-typical functioning) and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others, |
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Ableism |
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Ableism |
A set of beliefs, processes and practices that produce based on ones abilities a particular kind of understanding of oneself, one’s body and one’s relationship with others of one’s species, other species and one’s environment and includes one being judged by others. Ableism exhibits a favouritism for certain abilities that are projected as essential while at the same time labelling real or perceived deviation from or lack of these essential abilities as a diminished state of being leading or contributing to the justification of a variety of other isms such as sexism, racism, castism, GDP-ism, consumerism, Age-ism and so forth (1-3). There are two main versions (3) Version One Ableism privileges ‘species-typical abilities’ while labelling ‘sub species-typical abilities’ as deficient, as impaired and undesirable often with the accompanying disablism (6) the discriminatory, oppressive, or abusive behaviour arising from the belief that sub species-typical people are inferior to the species-typical In Version Two the claim is not about species-typical versus sub species-typical, but that one has - as a species or a social group- superior abilities compared to other species or other segments in ones species. others. (3)
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Transhumanized Form of Ableism(1-3) (generic) |
A set of beliefs, processes and practices that perceive the improvement of functioning of biological structures beyond typical boundaries as essential. The transhumanized version of ableism, sees all species-typical biological structures as limited, defective and in need of constant improvement beyond biological structure typical boundaries. The transhumanized version of ableism exhibits the favouritism of beyond biological structure typical abilities and perceived biological structures as deficient as being in a diminished state of being if they are not enhanced beyond biological structure typical abilities. (1-3) |
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Transhumanized Form of Ableism (1-3) (human related) |
A set of beliefs, processes and practices that
perceive the improvement of human body abilities beyond homo sapiens typical
boundaries as essential. This transhumanized version of ableism,
sees all human bodies as limited, defective and in need of constant
improvement of their abilities beyond homo sapiens -typical boundaries. This transhumanized version of ableism exhibits the favouritism of
beyond homo sapiens typical abilities and perceived humans as deficient as
being in a diminished state of being human if they are not enhanced beyond homo
sapiens typical abilities. (1-3). The
transhumanist body ability enhancement can be of three types a) external by
shaping the environment, b) internal reversal by modifying bodily structures
in an reversible fashion and c) internal non-reversal by modifying bodily
structures in a non-reversible fashion
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Transhumanized Form of Ableism(1-3) (animal related) |
A set of beliefs, processes and practices which
champions the especially cognitive enhancement of animal species beyond
species typical boundaries leading to cognitive or otherwise ‘enabled
species’. |
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Transhumanized
Form of Ableism (1-3)
(environment related) |
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Ability Studies (1-2)
Ableism Ethics
Ableism Governance
Ability security
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is the study a) the social, cultural, legal, political, ethical and other angles which influence the judgment of any given ability and which leads to the favouritism of one ability over another b) the impact and consequence of the favouritism of certain abilities and rejection of others c) the consequences of ableism in its different forms and its relationship and impact on other isms d) the impact of new and emerging technologies on ableism and the favouritism towards certain abilities and rejection of other abilities e) what abilities would lead to the most beneficial scenario for the maximum amount of people in the world (1-2)
Ethics of Ableism/Ableism Ethics is a framework of standards and values that (a) guide beliefs, processes and practices that produces based on ones abilities a particular kind of understanding of oneself, one’s body and one’s relationship with others of one’s species, other species and one’s environment and includes one being judged by others; (b) guide the favouritism for certain abilities and how one decide which abilities to favour over others; (c) guide the reactions towards humans and other biological entities that are seen -real or perceived- to lack these essential abilities. The study of the Ethics of Ableism/Ableism Ethics, also includes (a) the study of those standards and values, incorporating the perspectives of many different groups especially of the people labelled as lacking certain ‘essential’ abilities or labelled as exhibiting ‘as negative seen abilities’; (b) the impact assessment of different forms of ableism onto different ethics theories and ethical principles including health ethics theories and their use to govern science and technology and health research, care and policy and (c) identification of ethical actions that flow from a favouritism for certain abilities. http://ableism.wordpress.com/ableism-glossary/
Governance of Ableism/Ableism Governance is about how we govern ableism, the favouritism for certain abilities and the reaction towards non favoured abilities. This field is seen as an essential tool to help address existing and future challenges in the governance of science and technology and many other fields such as health policy. http://ableism.wordpress.com/ableism-glossary/
that one is accepted, and is able to live one’s life with whatever set of abilities one has, and that one will not be forced to have a prescribed set of abilities to live a secure life. (Wolbring 2007)
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Models (identity)
and determinants (interventions) of Health |
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If one deals with models and determinants of health one
in the end deals with two issues. The models of health define the client
(animal human) and the cause whereby the determinants define the intervention |
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Medical model (identity, bodily reality part) of a
person |
The person’s bodily reality is viewed as defective
directly caused by disease, trauma or other ‘medical health conditions’
leading to a body structure, function that deviates from certain norms. The
person obtains the identity label of being an impaired person/person with an impairment, a ‘patient’ with ill medical health, with
subnormative functioning. (5) Within the medical model of health, health is
limited to cover “medical health” and is characterized as the normative
functioning of biological systems (e.g. in humans or animals) whereas
disease/ illness is defined as the sub-normative functioning of biological
systems. It excludes interventions in regards to social and spiritual well being which can cot
directly be linked to a medical problem. (5) The
‘patient is the target of its intervention whether through cure or the
prevention of the appearance. |
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Medical
determinants of medical health of a patient |
place
the cause of sub-normative functioning within the individual patient’s
biological system leading to medical interventions towards the species
typical norm on the level of the individual focusing on medical cure, medical individualistic care and individualistic
normative rehabilitation as the primary endpoint and at the political level
the principal response is to make curative medicine more efficient(5) |
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Social
determinants/ interventions of medical health of a patient |
identify external
factors as the cause for the “ill medical health” the sub-normative
functioning of the individual, the patient and tries to fix the external
factors to prevent medical ill health. This includes, for example, the
elimination of contaminated water that leads to bacterial or parasitic
infections, or job insecurity that contributes to stress and heart disease. (5) Although
some social determinants interventions such as decreasing job insecurity also
increase social well being, the performance indicator is a positive change in
a medical parameter. |
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Medical Health/Social determinants/ social
well-being intervention of a patient |
Improve the social well-being of the patient through
social determinant interventions(5) |
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Social Health(5) |
social determinants intervention towards the social
well being of a person not labeled as being in ill medical health or in
danger of being medical ill(5) |
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Transhumanized health Transhumanized medical determinant intervention
Transhumanized
understanding of |
all
Homo sapiens bodies – no matter how conventionally “medically healthy” – are
defined as limited and defective as in ill health in need of constant
improvement made possible by new technologies appearing on the horizon (a
little bit like the constant software upgrades we do on our computers).
Health in this model is the concept of having obtained maximum (at any given
time) enhancement (improvement) of one’s abilities, functioning and body
structure. (5) These interventions see enhancement beyond
species-typical body structures and functioning as a therapeutic intervention
(transhumanization of medicalization)(5).
Enhancement medicine is the new field providing the remedy and maintenance through surgery, pharmaceuticals, implants and
other intervention on the level of the body. (5)
Rehabilitation is a treatment or treatments designed to facilitate the process of recovery from injury, illness, or disease to as normal a condition as possible.
The purpose of rehabilitation is to restore some or all of the patient's physical, sensory, and
mental capabilities that were lost due to injury,
illness, or disease. Rehabilitation includes assisting the patient to compensate for deficits that cannot be reversed medically.
The aim of rehabilitation, "to restore an individual to his/her former functional and environmental status, or alternatively, to
Rehabilitation is a treatment or treatments
designed to facilitate the process of recovery from
injury, illness, or disease to as optimum a Rehabilitation is a treatment or treatments designed to facilitate the process of gaining an as optimum a condition as possible.
The purpose of rehabilitation is to generate the optimimum functions of patient's physical, sensory, and mental capabilities that were lost due to injury, illness, or disease. Rehabilitation includes assisting the
patient to compensate for deficits that cannot be
reversed medically.
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Reference List
1. Wolbring, G. Why NBIC? Why human performance enhancement?,(2008) Innovation; The European Journal of Social Science Research, 21, 1, 25-40. [On-line]
2. Wolbring, G. NBICS, other convergences, ableism and the culture of
peace. (2007). Innovationwatch.com webpage [On-line]. at: http://www.innovationwatch.com/choiceisyours/choiceisyours-2007-04-15.htm
3. Wolbring (2008) Peer Reviewed "Is there an end to out-able? Is there an end to the rat race for abilities?" for Journal: Media and Culture, Volume 11, Issue 3, July. 2008 http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/57
4. Wolbring, G. Emerging technologies (Nano, Bio, Info, Cogno) and the changing concepts of Health and disability/impairment: A New Challenge for Health Policy, research and care.,(2006) Journal of Health and Development (India), 2, 1&2, 19-37. [On-line]
5. Alberta Heritage Foundation
for Medical Research, Health Technology Assessment Unit, Edmonton, Alberta
Canada. HTA Initiative #23 The
triangle of enhancement medicine, disabled people, and the concept of health: a
new challenge for HTA, health research, and health policyWolbring, G. (2005). [On-line]. at: http://www.ihe.ca/documents/hta/HTA-FR23.pdfISBN 1-894927-36-2 (Print); ISBN 1-894927-37-0
(On-Line); ISSN: 1706-7855 ).
6. Miller, Paul, Sophia Parker, and Sarah Gillinson. "Disablism: How to Tackle the Last Prejudice." London: Demos, 2004. 25 June 2008 ‹http://www.demos.co.uk/files/disablism.pdf›.