University of Haifa From the SelectedWorks of Sagit Mor December, 2005 Imagining the Law: The onC struction of Disabiltiy in the Domains of Rights and Welfare – The asC e of Israeli Disability Policy Sagit Mor Available at: http://works.bepress.com/sagitmor/5/ IMAGINING THE LAW THE CONSTRUCTION OF DISABILITY IN THE DOMAINS OF RIGHTS AND WELFARE THE CASE OF ISRAELI DISABILITY POLICY Sagit Mor J.S.D. Thesis Submitted to NYU School of Law Advisors: Oscar Chase Jerome Bruner Christine Harrington November 2005 CONTENTS === PART I: INTRODUCING THE PROJECT === INRODUCTION................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER ONE: Enter Disability Legal Studies: A New Theoretical Framework ........................................................................... 19 A. Disability Studies - A Paradigm Shift ................................................. 19 a. The Social Construction of Disability...................................................... 23 b. The Cultural Production of Disability...................................................... 25 c. Transforming the Academia ..................................................................... 28 B. Introducing Disability Legal Studies ....................................................... 30 a. What is Missing in Contemporary Writing on Disability and the Law....... 30 b. Methodological Directions....................................................................... 35 c. Constitutive Theory.................................................................................. 36 C. A Disability Legal Studies Critique of Welfare ...................................... 41 === PART II: IDEOLOGICAL GROUNDS AND LOCAL ORIGINS === CHPATER TWO: Heroic Bodies, Deformed Bodies: Disability in Israeli Collective Ethos and Public Imagery ................................................................... 49 A. The Aesthetics of the Zionist Body and Zionism’s Ableism ................... 51 a. Zionism – A Collectivist Project ............................................................... 52 c. The Pioneer and the Sabra ........................................................................ 60 d. Exclusion and Difference.......................................................................... 63 e. Zionism’s Ableism................................................................................... 68 B. Embracing Heroic Bodies: Disability in the Service of the Collective..... 73 a. Productivity and Labor – Zionism’s Early Phase ................................... 74 b. Self-Defense, Security, and Militarism – The Rise of Power in Zionism. 82 C. Conclusion: Bodies of Glory, Bodies of Denial: The Negation of Disability..................................................................... 92 CHAPTER THREE: Questioned Solidarity: Disability and Social Welfare in Practice During the Pre-State Era...................................................................................... 96 A. Welfare Policy Under the British Regime ........................................... 97 B. Three Local Mechanisms..................................................................... 102 a. The Histadrut .......................................................................................... 103 b. The National Council............................................................................. 106 c. Voluntary associations ........................................................................... 108 C. Concluding Remarks ............................................................................ 110 1 === PART III: BETWEEN CHARITY WELFARE AND WARFARE: PRIVILEGES AND NEGLECT IN THE POLITICS OF DISABILITY POLICY === CHAPTER FOUR: Poverty and Neglect: Productivity Ableism and Orientalism in the Sa’ad System ................................................... 114 A. The Place of Sa’ad in the Differentiated Structure of the Social Welfare System ............................................................... 116 a. National Insurance: Between High Values and Interest Politics ............... 116 b. A Missed Opportunity for Disability Insurance ....................................... 126 c. The Differentiated Structure of Disability Benefits.................................. 128 B. The Sa’ad System – General Public Assistance for the Poor................. 132 C. Productivity – The Hidden Factor ........................................................ 137 D. The Role of Productivity in National Insurance Legislative History...... 140 E. The Mutuality of Israeli Ableism and Orientalism................................ 147 F. Between Deserving Poor and Undeserving Citizens ............................. 155 CHAPTER FIVE: Dignity to the Workers, Glory to the Soldiers: The Privileged Spheres of Disability Benefits.................................................... 159 A. Work Injury – A Civil Model for Disability Benefits............................ 161 a. The Flagship Program of National Insurance.......................................... 162 b. Hollow Generosity.................................................................................. 166 c. Gate-keeping Citizenship: Denying Civil Dignity................................... 168 B. Disabled Veterans – Heroism and Activism ......................................... 172 a. Legal and Institutional Setting............................................................... 173 b. Heroism and Sacrifice............................................................................. 175 c. The Rationale: Compensation................................................................. 178 d. Activism and Group Consciousness ....................................................... 183 e. A Model to Follow................................................................................. 186 C. Escaping Disability: The Invalids Law Impact on Disability Policy Dynamics............................................................. 190 CHAPTER SIX: The Failure of Universality – A Missed Opportunity for Disability Insurance..................................................................................... 196 A. Seeming Universality and Growing Particularity.................................. 198 B. Defining Disability and Terms of Entitlement ...................................... 204 C. The Material Gap................................................................................. 208 D. Disability Insurance – Still a Charity Mechanism................................ 214 2 === PART IV: A RADICAL IMAGERY? THE PREDICAMENTS OF DISABILITY RIGHTS AND DISABILITY ACTIVISM === CHAPTER SEVEN: Ideological Shifts: Counter-Hegemonic Activism in Context .......................................................... 220 A. The Changing Conditions of Ableism: A Mixed Impact on Disability................................................................ 221 a. Patterns of Change – 1970s-1980s ........................................................ 221 b. Enduring Nationalism and Israeli Body Politics .................................... 226 c. The Rise of Rights Language and Rights Activism................................ 231 d. Neo-Liberalism and the Decline of Social Welfare................................ 241 e. Social Activism in Late 1990s – The Rediscovery of Social Welfare..... 246 f. The Persistent Structure of Disability Cash Benefits.............................. 250 B. The Changing Forms of Disability Activism: From Cooperation to Confrontation ...................................................... 252 a. Welfare Activism in the First Decades: Between Resistance and Cooperation.................................................... 253 b. Winds of Change: Preliminary Rights Activism .................................... 258 i. First Signs of Adversarial Activism .................................................. 258 ii. The Parents’ Board: A Preliminary Rights Language ....................... 262 c. Formulating Disability Rights: Confrontation and Structural Change .... 267 d. Voices from the Bottom: Disability Insurance Now .............................. 273 CHAPTER EIGHT: The Failures of Disability Rights: A Critique of Essentialism, Heroism, and of Rights, After All ........................... 279 A. The Equal Rights for People with Disabilities Bill as a Site of Counter-Hegemonic Resistance.......................................... 279 B. The Promise of Disability Rights – Dismantling / Abolishing Ableism. 283 a. Setting a Supreme Court Precedent ......................................................... 284 b. The ERPWD Bill’s Provisions: Principles, Guidelines, and Concrete Rights................................................ 286 c. A New Meaning for Disability, a New Model of Justice: From Charity to Dignity and Difference...................................................... 292 d. Actual and Potential Impact on Rights, and Welfare................................ 297 e. The Impact on the Disability Community: Identity Formation and Coalition Building.................................................. 303 C. The Shape of Rights: Three Critical Comments on the Limits of the New Disability Discourse: Another Missed Opportunity?...................... 313 a. A Limited Language of Power – A Critique of Essentialism after All?..... 314 b. Heroism Untouched – A Critique of Collectivism after all?..................... 322 c. No Vision for Disability Insurance – A Rights Critique after all?............. 332 3 CHAPTER NINE: Between Evil and Hope: