Infusing disability studies into the rehabilitation sciences

Disability studies is a field of critical study that emerged from the disability rights movement as a challenge to the medicalization of the lives of people with disabilities. Disability studies, while often critical of medicine and rehabilitation, has the potential to inform and improve practice by making it more responsive and relevant to the long-term needs and desires of people with disabilities. This article provides an introduction to the field of disabilities studies followed by a discussion of how disability studies perspectives can be infused into and ultimately strengthen rehabilitation practice.