Introduction to Disability Studies Including Disabled Persons who Want Cure

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K12943
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 08010:Sociology-related
• Research Institution: Teikyo University
• Principal Investigator: Ishijima Kentaro 帝京大学, 文学部, 講師 (70806364)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: ALS / 色覚異常 / 治療 / 障害の社会モデル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

First, we examined in detail the pros and cons of treating disability, a topic that has not been adequately examined in disability studies in the past.
Second, a case study of a patient with ALS who is balancing the desire for treatment with the need to establish a stable life as a disabled person illustrates the applicability of the social model of disability and the tensions behind it.
Third, through tracing the changes of the claims of comprimentary and alternative medicine clinics that alleged to be able to treat colour vision deficiency, we showed that justifying the treatment of impairment was linked to the stigmatization of impairment, and indicated what disability studies should focus on, when medicine is truly making disability treatable in the modern era.

Free Research Field

障害学、福祉社会学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

学術的には、従来障害学のなかで位置づけることが難しかった障害を治療したいと思う障害者を、学の基本テーゼである障害の社会モデルを投棄しないかたちで、経験的に記述することを通じて、こうした障害者を障害学の対象とする研究の可能性を広げた。また、その背景にある理論的前提や、この障害の治療がかつて正当化されたやり方を精査することを通じて、障害の治療を志向する言説を織り込んだ上で社会モデルをアップデートする必要性を指摘できた。社会的には、治療を望む障害者を排除しない障害者運動・支援の構想に示唆を得た。