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http://www.epw.in/book-reviews/new-insights-disability-studies.html Disability Studies in India: Global Discourses, Local Realities edited by Renu Addlakha (New Delhi:Routledge Taylor and Francis Group Publications), 2013; pp 464, Rs 895. K Pavani Sree (pavanisree56@gmail.com) is a research scholar, Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad. Disability as a universal phenomenon has been defined in a number of ways. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has explained the concept of disability under three broad categories, namely, “Impairment, Disability and Handicap”. Social scientists in recent decades have highlighted the socio-historical and cultural dimensions of disability. The medical model of disability stresses the fact that impaired bodies need to adjust, adapt and undergo corrections to overcome lack or absence, which is essential in most cases. The shift from the medical model to the social model of impairment is due to perception through the sociocultural and structural context. This has led to disability studies problematising the sociocultural construction of disability and opening up the space to criticise the medical model. The studies have shifted from lack to social barriers. The social model explains the social, structural and built environment barriers of physically impaired people. Researchers in the social sciences and humanities have developed disability as an interdisciplinary category by forming a new methodological and analytical tool. The book under review has focused on the issues of persons with disabilities through an empirical examination of the contemporary context particularly of the Indian scenario. It also highlights the critical interpretations of impairments in narratives to throw light on evolving notions on impairment. The book consists of 17 papers and is divided into five sections. Ten papers focus on the gender dimension of disability and seven give new insights into the emerging field of disability studies. The book covers almost all areas of disability ranging from historcising disability in India, the disability rights movement, need for caring, notions of gender, identity construction and formation, inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities. The book deals with the issues at both the micro and macro levels. It interprets a wide range of impairments including visual, auditory mental illness and locomotor disability. Jose Abad Lorente and Partho Bhowmick write on “Body/Text: Art Project on Deafness and Communication” and “Blind with Camera: Photographs by the Visually Impaired” highlighting disability aesthetics and creative diversity regarding the deaf and blind. They show how the disabled are using the latest technology and developing skills on par with the able-bodied. The papers in this volume provide a comprehensive understanding of where to place discourses on disabilities in the Indian context. As Mehrotra and Shubhangi Vaidya point out unlike the practices of labelling, segregation and institutionalisation observed in the west, the sociocultural milieu in non-western societies, including India, have historically tended to absorb persons with disabilities within the circle of family and social networks, creating spaces for them to function according to their capabilities. They also highlight the fact that Indians seem to pay less attention to mental illnesses than to physical illnesses. One can relate this statement to Erving Goffman’s concept of discredited persons who have a physical impairment, i e, have a visible stigma and discredited persons with a non-visible impairment. In other words, it is about mental illness. From the above it is evident that particularly in India disability is defined in terms of dependency and is understood primarily as a physical defect. Gender Dimension Coming to the notion of the gender dimension of disability, Nandini Ghosh, Renu Addlakha, Michel Friender and Sandhya Limaye reveal how women with disabilities are often subjected to multiple discriminations due to the patriarchal notions on sexuality which consider them incapable of taking on sexual, reproductive and maternal roles. Friender in her findings on identity formation and transnational discourses concludes that culture plays a crucial role in the construction of self-hood and identity. This essay also explores how culture and gender modify the experiences and articulations of deaf identity in a non-western setting. Asha Hans, Amrita Patel and S B Agnihotri explore gender budgeting, which is an emerging concept and use it to analyse allocations and expenditure in the disability sector, in four states in India. By highlighting the total absence of gender sensitivity in budgetary allocations in the disability sector, these authors alert us to the multiple layers of exclusion within the category of disability in its intersections with other socio-demographic variables such as gender, caste, class and religion. Burden of Caregiving Similarly, Upali Chakravarti explores the burden of caring and finds that families shoulder a greater responsibility in caregiving, especially the mother. Chakravarti contends that families require not only material resources, but also continual psychological support. Highlighting the sacrifices made by the parents in bringing up children with cerebral palsy Chakravarti brings out the lived experiences of parents with disabled children. Amit Upadhyay brings an important dimension to disability through narratives of orthopaedically impaired persons engaged in gainful employment. He highlights the difficulties faced by orthopaedically handicapped persons both at the workplace and in getting jobs. Upadhyay also discusses the difficulties faced by them in negotiating the built environment at the workplace and the need for further research in this area. This volume also focuses on policies and disability rights. N Sundaresan says that there is an urgent need to mainstream disability in the Millennium Development Goals. The volume emphasises the disability of deaf people, for instance, Sandhya Limaye presents detailed case studies of hearing impaired adolescent girls in Mumbai. According to her, “adolescence is one of the critical developmental stages of life cycle involving a distinct set of tasks, which include awareness and acceptance of the changing body, development of peer relationships, internalisation of gender role expectations and development of a personal identity, in addition to exercising autonomy, training for acquiring work for economic independence and entering marriage and family life” (Addlakha 2013: 264). Other attempts to understand various forms of disabilities are needed. Science and Technology Ignored However, the book does not consider the role of science and technology in overcoming and negotiating certain impairments through medicalisation, which has become an important aspect as far as persons with disabilities are concerned. Anita Ghai emphasises this aspect but deals with the issues of right to life of a disabled foetus, women’s autonomy in decision-making with regard to abortion but does not articulate the need for monitoring science and technology for the orthopaedically impaired in everyday living. In today’s context, where science and technology play a vital role, one needs to focus on technological advancements in the medical field and apply them for the improvement of disabled children to enable greater independence.