Constructing ‘disability’ in Myanmar: teachers,community stakeholders,and the complexity of disability models |
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Authors: | Hannah Ware Matthew J Schuelka |
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Institution: | 1. Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK;2. School of Education, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK |
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Abstract: | This article explores Myanmar teachers’ and community stakeholders’ constructions of disability. We examine how various religious perspectives – particularly Buddhism – inform and shape understandings of impairment and how these beliefs intersect with a strongly medicalised construction of disability. However, in our discussion and exploration of the responses, we also found that the notion of two primary disability ‘models’ – namely the medical model and the social model – lack nuance, complexity, and socio-cultural consideration. Through examining teachers’ and community members’ perspectives of disability in Myanmar, we highlight the importance of socio-cultural variance in understanding local constructions of disability. |
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Keywords: | Myanmar disability teachers medical model Buddhism Global South |
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