Given below are two statements:
Statement I: A wheelchair user who cannot enter her college because it has only staircases is disabled more by the building's design than by her body.
Statement II: The disabled are rendered disabled not because they are biologically disabled but because society renders them so.
In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Both Statement I and Statement II are correct
Statement I: A wheelchair user who cannot enter her college because it has only staircases is disabled more by the building's design than by her body. — Correct. The staircase, not her body, keeps her out of college. This fits the view that buildings not designed to admit disabled people are what disable them.
Statement II: The disabled are rendered disabled not because they are biologically disabled but because society renders them so. — Correct. This is the social view of disability. A person is disabled not by biology alone but because society, through its design and attitudes, renders her or him so.
NCERT (2026-27): “5.4 The Struggles of the Disabled … “We are disabled by buildings that are not designed to admit us, and this in turn leads to a range of further disablements regarding our education, our chances of gaining employment, our social lives and so on. The disablement lies in the construction of society, not in the physical condition of the individual (Brisenden 1986 :176).” |