Teodor Mladenov
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Disability and independence
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Chapter 1 introduces two key terms – ‘disability’ and ‘independence’ – from the perspective of disabled people’s definitional struggles and by mobilising the critical-theoretical concepts of ‘epistemic injustice’ (with reference to Miranda Fricker’s work), ‘politics of need interpretation’, and ‘juridical–administrative–therapeutic state’ (with reference to Nancy Fraser’s work). The struggles for the meaning of disability are recounted, with a focus on the social model of disability, its significance for disability studies and organising, its critiques, and its impact on the international disability rights agenda, as epitomised by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The chapter explains the implications of the social model’s shifting of attention from the individual to society in disability policy, advocacy, and theory. The discussion then turns to the struggles for the meaning of independence, which are explored by considering critically the definitional efforts of prominent Independent Living actors. It is argued that Independent Living – in a paradigm shift complementary to the social model – has transformed the understanding of independence from liberal-individualist self-sufficiency to freedom-maximising interdependence. To understand the implications of this transformation, self-sufficiency is explored with reference to Kant’s political philosophy. Both the social model’s reframing of disability and Independent Living’s reframing of independence are presented as examples of striving for epistemic justice and engaging with the politics of need interpretation. The chapter ends with a proposal for a productive alignment between the social model and the Independent Living paradigm towards combining structural-collectivist with relational-autonomist strategies in disability policy, advocacy, and theory.

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