Capability Approach to Disability

The capability approach to disability, articulated by Sophie Mitra in 2006 by adapting Amartya Sen's capability framework, defines disability as a deprivation of capabilities or functionings that arises from the interaction between a person's characteristics (including impairment), their resources, and the personal, social, and environmental conversion factors that turn resources into real opportunities. Rather than locating disability in the body (the medical model) or solely in society (the strong social model), it locates disability in the gap between what a person is actually able to do and be and what they could do and be. This reframing gives disability studies a measurement-friendly account that distinguishes potential from actual disability.