Shifting Toward Social Model: A Discourse Analysis of School Color Vision Testing in Japan

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Abstract

The paper investigates the ways in which the notion of color-blindness has been constructed and transformed through shifts in school color vision testing of Japanese schools. The transformation of notion of color-blindness reflects a social model of disability which assumes disability to be constructed by the ways in which society does not meet with the particular needs of individuals. In the light of Foucault's notion of power, abolishing mandatory school color vision testing in 2003 deformed disciplinary power and deconstructed notion of color-blindness as impairment. Color-blindness became assessed by the needs of educational support in schooling through the abolishing. In conclusion, the study argues that abolishing the mandatory testing transformed color-blindness to color vision disability: a social model of disability.

Author

• Ryota Moriya, Utsunomiya University