Handicap as a social construction in France and Uruguay

Abstract

From a meeting with Prof. Henri-Jacques Stiker, one of the most important authors on the subject of handicap in France, it is done an article containing the issues analysed with him trough the main topics about handicap. The evolution of the concept of disability (“handicap”) makes a difference from the beginning between France and Uruguay. This turns a key in naming a topic that, perhaps, in its contents could have more similarities than one can imagine. Therefore aspects, defined on its distinction such as disability and impairment, integration and inclusion, (“individual”) medical model and social model, the issue of normality and regulatory frameworks, and national and international classifications. That is the way that tries to deconstruct this article, in order to generate a theoretical input to account for the similarities and diffe- rences in the conceptualization, starting points and future of handicap in France and Uruguay.