The disability rights movement has been criticized for basing disability concepts around the lived experiences and bodyminds of white, heterosexual, wheelchair-using disabled men. One example of a concept that has been challenged is the social model of disability which has been critiqued in various ways - including but not limited to: individuals with chronic pain conditions citing that even with a more accessible society their pain would exist, and racialized and low-income individuals calling out how the social model of disability can erase how while society is ableist overall that ableism is inherently intertwined with racism, classism, and sexism. Disability rights activists have also had a history of leaning back on intracommunity hierarchies of "who is more disabled" that exclude individuals with chronic illnesses, mental disabilities, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Challenges to definitions of disability by the Disability Rights Movement?

While there are legal and medical definitions of what is considered a disability, the boundary around what is disability in disability studies and disability activist work is often challenged. 

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Schalk notes that the breadth of conditions, diseases, disabilities, and health concerns discussed in NBWHP work is not surprising because Black health activism tends to be inclusive of disability without primarily focusing on disability. This broadness also reflects that Black people are more likely to be disabled by conditions that are often considered preventable or non-disabling because of a lack of educational, social, and financial access to preventative care and early treatment coupled with medical racism, environmental racism, and racist violence. 

Why the Breadth of Health Concerns Addressed by the NBWHP Matters

Schalk, Sami. Black Disability Politics, New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478027003

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