Katie R. Eyer (Rutgers), Claiming Disability, B. U. L. Rev. (Forthcoming 2021).
We stand at the cusp of a potentially transformative moment for disability rights. For decades, the disability rights movement has been burdened by a profound obstacle: many of its potential constituents do not self-identify as disabled. Disability has long been constructed in our society as quintessentially associated with intrinsic limitation, and especially an inability to work. Although modern disability civil rights law includes no such requirement, it has not yet transformed entrenched colloquial understandings. As such, many people who qualify as disabled under contemporary civil rights law nevertheless do not self-identify in that way.
But numerous factors make this a uniquely opportune moment to transform this state of affairs. The ADA Amendments Act, enacted in 2008, for the first time has provided a definition of disability that is broad, inclusive, and untethered to functional limitation. So too the growth of disability pride movements, social media, and the development of new academic ideas in disability theory all hold promise for encouraging a mass movement of disability identity. If only a fraction of those who qualify as disabled under the ADAAA were to “claim disability” and embrace a disabled identity, millions of Americans would identify as disabled for the first time.