Disability: definition and data as epistemological challenge

The chapter discusses the social construction of disability presenting the main elements in the debate on history, definition and data on disability. It highlights the convergent international trend towards the definition firstly elaborated by the World Health Organization (ICF) and then by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The World Health Organization considers disability an umbrella term and it has elaborated the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health to define and measuring it. It combines the medical and social models developing a biopsychosocial perspective, defining disability as a limitation in a functional domain, arising from the interaction between an individual’s intrinsic capacity, and environmental and personal factors. The main international commitment concerning disability as a global issue is represented by the United Nation Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, changing definition and attitudes on disability, from viewing persons with disabilities as an object of medical treatment, charity and social protection towards persons with rights, claiming those rights, and being the main actors of their lives, as well as active members of society. Nevertheless, the implementation of the IFC and of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a global epistemological challenge dealing with key aspects of social life since disability has been a cultural construct legitimizing social hierarchies.