Disability is now recognized as a social, political and cultural phenomenon that is created by environment, structure, institutional and attitudinal barriers. This paper investigates the ways in which structural and systemic constraints, cultural normativity discourses and medicalization versus social and affirmation approaches influence the production of disability and disabled identities. A qualitative thematic review was carried out, focusing on peer-reviewed journals, academic books and policy documents that highlighted literature on the Social Model of Disability, structural barriers, ableism, intersectional stigma and disability policy in Bangladesh and the Global South. The results show that poor physical and digital environments, stigma, cultural attitudes, lack of institutional measures, poverty, and lack of employment and healthcare access play a significant role in the social construction of disability. It also reveals that intersections of identity – gender, class, race and age – influence the disability experience, and that women with disability in Bangladesh are especially marginalized. The Social Model is good at challenging medicalization and socio-political barriers; however, it has a stronger form and may not take account of the effects of impairment, which might include pain, fatigue and psychological distress. The study thus suggests an embodied, intersectional and affirmational perspective that integrates social, material and cultural aspects to ensure rights-based inclusion and to challenge systemic barriers.
Keywords: Social Model of Disability; Social Construction of Disability; Structural Barriers; Intersectionality; Global South.
05-Sep-2026
