Impairment as a Human Constant: Cross‐Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Variation

The social science literature on physical disabilities suffers a curious omission in the relative lack of attention paid to a cross‐cultural or historical perspective. We argue that disability is a human constant—that is, all human societies have and have always had disabled members. While the presence of such individuals is a constant, culturally shared responses to them vary greatly across time and social context.