Reframing Disability through Lived Negotiation: Introducing the Agent Model of Disability

• In Event: Reframing Disability and Inclusion: Critical, Anti-Colonial, and Rights-Based Perspectives in Global Education

Proposal

Introduction and Problem Statement
The theme of the CIES 2026 conference, “Re-examining Education and Peace in a Divided World”, calls for reflection on how education can foster peace amid growing global division. Education is often seen as a catalyst for social cohesion, yet it also risks reproducing exclusionary practices that reinforce divides. This paradox is evident in inclusive education, where students with disabilities encounter barriers that not only restrict participation but also perpetuate stigma and segregation, undermining education’s peacebuilding role.
Disability theories have long been debated. The medical model conceptualizes disability primarily as an individual abnormality or deficit (Hogan, 2019a). In contrast, the social model reframes disability as the outcome of unaccommodating societal structures (Oliver, 1990). Although highly influential, the social model has been critiqued for overlooking dimensions of power, identity, and embodied experience (Owens, 2015). The ICF—or interactional model—seeks to integrate these perspectives by situating functional impairment within its interaction with environmental factors (Mitra & Shakespeare, 2019). Yet across these approaches, disability still tends to be treated as a stable or externally imposed category. Such framings, while politically powerful, risk neglecting the nuanced and self-negotiated experiences of disabled individuals—particularly in contexts where diagnoses are absent, shifting, or contested.
This paper introduces the Agent Model of Disability as a framework for rethinking how education contributes to inclusion and peace. The model views disability not as a static condition or solely as structural oppression, but as a lived, negotiated, and dynamic identity. It repositions disabled individuals as active participants in their educational and social environments, rather than passive recipients of accommodations.

Key Dimensions of the Agent Model
The Agent Model rests on four interlocking dimensions. Subjective Agency emphasizes that disability is primarily defined by the individual through lived experience, returning epistemic authority to the person. Fluid Identity stresses that disability is not fixed, but evolves across time, context, and relationships. Microsocial Perspective highlights the importance of small-scale, context-specific meaning-making rather than generalized narratives. Finally, Everyday Praxis underscores how disability is continuously negotiated through daily activities and interactions, in which individuals generate and enact their own inclusion strategies. The model is inspired by research on parental attitudes toward inclusive education and the author’s previous fieldwork with parents of disabled children in China. In discussions of inclusive education, parents are often positioned alongside their children as if they were equal stakeholders in disability. Yet parents do not “originate” disability; rather, they are drawn into it when their child is diagnosed or identified as disabled. Their initial understanding is typically no different from that of the wider public. What makes them appear as insiders is not expertise, but rather the shock of confronting their child’s condition and the instinct to protect. When communicating with schools, parents’ voices often blend their child’s needs with their own interpretations and prevailing social norms. This dynamic can result in children, even those enrolled in mainstream schools, having their disability-related needs overlooked and their identity development stifled.

Theoretical Contributions
The model builds upon existing disability studies by foregrounding the micro-processes through which disability is constituted, challenging top-down classifications, and revaluing subjective and affective dimensions.
To the medical model, which focuses on impairments and treatment, the Agent Model adds an insistence on first-person experience. A chronic illness, for instance, may be experienced as “sickness” but not necessarily as “disability,” and its meaning can change over time, even from day to day. The focus shifts from bodily correction to creative living.
To the social model, which highlights barriers but often generalizes across disabled people, the Agent Model brings micro-level meaning-making. A Deaf student may choose sign language in one context and integration in another. Presence and voice matter as much as systemic reform, and group identity should not be assumed to be uniform.
To the interactional model (such as WHO’s ICF), which balances body functions and environmental factors, the Agent Model adds identity and emotions. It asks not only “Can I do it?” but “Do I want to?” or “How do I feel about this way of doing it?” Function is not the sole measure; self-understanding matters, and individuals co-create their environments rather than merely adapting to them.

Conclusion and Implications
This proposal does not aim to replace structural analysis or rights-based advocacy, but rather to expand them by centering lived negotiation and individual agency. The Agent Model of Disability offers an interpretive tool for researchers, educators, and policymakers who wish to attend to the complexity, dignity, and subjectivity of disabled lives.
At the research level, the Agent Model of Disability underscores the demand side of education and offers a strong rationale for more in-depth studies on parents’ perspectives of inclusive education for children with disabilities. It also highlights the need to distinguish clearly between the roles of disabled children and their parents in articulating and negotiating disability. Moreover, the model opens new avenues for exploring how parental perceptions shape children’s learning experiences and influence their sense of belonging within school contexts.
At the policy level, this model contributes to the SDGs and the post-2030 education agenda by offering insights into inclusive arrangements, parental engagement, and institutional design that mitigate fragmentation and promote belonging. In doing so, it links theoretical innovation to educational practices across different social and cultural contexts worldwide. The Agent Model of Disability provides a fresh framework for understanding how inclusive education can become a site of peace practice. Respecting difference, empowering disabled learners, and reducing institutional exclusion can transform schools into spaces of cohesion.

Author

• Fangkun Shi, Waseda University GSAPS