Weber Mark C
DePaul University, College of Law, 25 East Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604-2287, USA.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2008;36(4):558-62.
Contemporary disability law takes into account the insight that physical and mental conditions need not be disabling but for the environmental and attitudinal barriers that keep people with disabilities from social participation on a plane of equality with others. The need to use a wheelchair does not disable except for curbs and stairs, and many mental conditions do not disable except for social attitudes. The "AAPL Guideline for Forensic Evaluation of Psychiatric Disabilities" is a refreshing departure from writings that approach disability from a perspective that focuses on nothing but medical considerations and the study of how individuals are defective compared with established norms. The Guideline stresses the process of examination and list important legal considerations for examiners to apply. But the Guideline does not show any awareness of a model of disability other than a medical one that classifies individuals by defect. Psychiatrists would do well to consider the role of social barriers when using the Guideline in making disability-related examinations.
身体和精神状况本身不一定会导致残疾，而是环境和态度上的障碍使残疾人无法在与他人平等的层面上参与社会。使用轮椅的需求本身并不构成残疾，除非存在路缘和楼梯等障碍；许多精神状况本身也不会导致残疾，除非存在社会态度方面的问题。《美国精神病学会法律精神病学残疾评估指南》与其他一些著作有所不同，令人耳目一新，那些著作仅从医学角度看待残疾，只关注医学考量以及个体与既定标准相比存在哪些缺陷。该指南强调检查过程，并列出了检查人员应适用的重要法律考量因素。但该指南除了以缺陷对个体进行分类的医学残疾模式外，并未显示出对其他残疾模式的任何认识。精神科医生在依据该指南进行与残疾相关的检查时，最好考虑社会障碍所起的作用。
