Disability theory and public policy: implications for critical gerontology

Current gerontological theories and aging policy often fail to acknowledge the social and economic consequences of disability in later life, while disability theories and policies tend to focus only on the employment impacts of disability in younger populations. This article attempts to apply a critical gerontology framework to aging and disability issues. The authors review theoretical models of the disablement process, and note the primacy of environmental factors. The production and distribution of disability are assessed, using both social epidemiology and political economy insights. The authors examine the linkage of disability and work impedance and the consequences in disability programming, giving special consideration to inherent age, gender, and racial biases. Some of the historical antecedents of disability stigma in aging populations are also identified. The article concludes by suggesting that analysts and policymakers who wish to address the tremendous social and economic inequities that accompany aging and disability should look to the principles put forth by the independent living movement and to recent work on the moral economy of interdependency over the life course.