Critical Disability Theory

An interdisciplinary theoretical framework that examines disability as a social, political, and cultural phenomenon rather than solely a medical condition. Critical disability theory draws on disability studies, critical theory, and intersectional analysis to challenge dominant assumptions about normalcy, ability, and the medicalization of human difference. It critiques how power structures — including healthcare systems, technology design, and institutional practices — create and reinforce disability through exclusion, ableism, and the privileging of non-disabled perspectives. In accessibility and HCI research, critical disability theory informs approaches that center the lived experiences and agency of disabled people, question techno-solutionist assumptions that technology should "fix" or "cure" disability, and advocate for designs that empower rather than pathologize disabled communities.