Representing Disability in Tort Litigation: An Empirical Analysis of Judicial Discourse (1998–2018)

Abstract

This study empirically examines whether and how the introduction of disability rights impacted the portrayal of disability in personal injury court decisions in Israel and offers a method for doing such research in other legal realms and contexts. We conducted a quantitative content analysis of Israeli district court judicial rulings over twenty years to measure whether a discursive shift occurred from a medical-individual view of disability to a social constructionist and a rights-based understanding of disability. Our coding system included descriptive and conceptual indicators, forming two indexes: a conventional index and a progressive index. Our findings reveal a steady dominance of the conventional discourse and a gradual yet limited rise in progressive discourse. Moreover, individual court decisions often manifest both types of discourse but are still dominated by a conventional view of disability and rarely apply direct disability rights terminology. These findings provide pioneering empirical evidence that substantiates the disability critique of tort law, demonstrating that judicial decision making is slow to adopt a disability rights perspective. More broadly, our findings show that the infusion of a disability rights orientation does not necessarily replace the older medical-individual view of disability but adds to it, resulting in a mixed discourse that includes both conventional and progressive elements.

Kebajikan Kewarganegaraan Partisipasi Hak Penyandang Disabilitas dalam Perumusan Kebijakan di Tingkat Pemerintahan Administratif Desa di Indonesia

“…Sehubungan dengan hal tersebut, dalam proses pengambilan kebijakan, penting bagi pemerintah untuk dapat memastikan bahwa kebijakan yang diadopsi memenuhi kebutuhan dan melindungi hak-hak penyandang disabilitas (Dibben et al, 2023). Karenanya, partisipasi penyandang disabilitas dapat memberikan manfaat yang positif dan signifikan (Mor et al, 2023).…”