Select two sociological approaches to disability (functionalism,conflict,symbolic interactionism,feminism,post-structuralist)and compare and contrast them.Give at least one example for each approach in your answer.

Answers will vary by student.
The functionalist perspective on disabilities is typified by Talcott Parsons's concept of the sick role.The sick role is a patterned social role that defines the behaviour that is appropriate for and expected of those who are sick.In this way,it is similar to all other social roles (e.g. ,student,mother)that include certain rights and responsibilities.Those who are sick are temporarily exempt from usual role expectations (e.g. ,they can miss shifts at work)and generally are not seen as being responsible for being ill.Conversely,those who are sick are expected to want to get better,to seek out competent experts to help them recover,and to comply with these experts' recommendations.Functionalists would assert,then,that the sick role reinforces society's desire to give people time to recover while accentuating the need to seek professional help and to return to the roles they possessed before they became ill.
Conflict: People with disabilities have higher rates of unemployment and low income than do people without disabilities.Moreover,many people with disabilities need specialized equipment (e.g. ,wheelchairs,hearing aids)that they may not be able to afford.For conflict theorists,these facts underscore that economic inequality affects people with disabilities differently.
Symbolic interactionists often focus on how labelling can have consequences for how people with disabilities are viewed and for how they view themselves.Consider the use of disabilities in a metaphorical,and usually disparaging,way.For example,to say that someone is "deaf or blind to the facts" or that "a strike has crippled production" is to use a disability as a negative stereotype.
The feminist perspective on disability emphasizes that our perceptions of what constitutes a disability are socially constructed in the same way that gender is.Feminists believe that by looking beyond a narrow definition of disability,one can begin to undertake a broad sociopolitical critique of systematic and binary opposition of abled/disabled and healthy/ill in the same manner as feminists have studied the binary oppositions of masculine/feminine and powerful/weak.
Post-structuralist theory has been instrumental in critiquing the notion of disability in that it challenges normative definitions of social order and individual identity.Post-structuralists investigate how the concept of the body is constructed and deconstructed through individual and social interactions.By reinforcing what is considered "normal," society develops a more narrow definition of what is acceptable.People with physical or mental disabilities are seen as even further from the ideal and therefore as less worthy of attention or concern.