A Thread Map of Disability Discourses

Zones run left to right by where each model locates disability: in the individual, in the interaction between person and environment, in society and politics, and in identity, culture, and critique.

Above the dashed line sit discourses on responding to disability (services, law, schools, and sport). Below it sit discourses on interpreting disability (what disability is).

Click stations on and off to highlight them. Highlighted models glow, their threads and connections light up, and the rest of the map fades back, so you can compare several models at once. The tray above the map lists your highlights. Threads toggle on and off in the Threads list: switch on one or more to show only those, or choose "Show all." Stances in the key toggle on and off the same way.

Compare and share. Choose "Compare models" to line up as many models as you like side by side: click stations on the map, type names into the comparison panel, or tick them in the index. "Copy link" saves the exact view, highlights and threads included, so you can share it with students or colleagues.

Guided tours walk through a sequence of models one step at a time, tracing a gold path across the map.

Threads are families of related models. Each thread runs through its models like a transit line through its stations. Select a thread in the list to follow it on its own.

Stations are coloured by stance, taken from each entry. Interchanges, drawn as larger white stations, sit on two or more threads, which is where the families overlap. Grey stations stand on their own.

The Measurement frameworks line along the bottom holds the classification frameworks in historical order, since they apply across every zone.

The zone guide under the map summarizes what each zone casts disability, the response, the disabled person, and the professional as.