ABSTRACT
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) (WHO 2001) occupies an intriguing place in disability studies. Although the ICF is the standard epidemiological tool for functioning across health practice and research – from medicine and the rehabilitation therapies, to public health, health systems and health policy – it is either ignored or heavily criticised by disability studies scholars who dismissively associate it with the ‘medical model’ of disability. There are certainly many reasons to be sceptical about the ICF and its applications, but ignoring it and its increasing influence – foremost in the health sector, but increasingly in the labour and education sectors as well – is not a sensible strategy. Once misunderstandings are removed, and flaws honestly and plainly identified, the ICF should be acknowledged as an intellectual achievement and a scientifically valid tool, but also and most importantly as a potential instrument of empowerment.
