Social Determinants of Health and Disability

This chapter introduces readers to social determinants of health, which are recognized in the USA and globally as the social factors driving health disparities. In short, social determinants represent the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age that are shaped by political, social, financial, and physical environmental factors. The chapter presents the social ecological framework, which is a conceptual approach that serves as the foundation for understanding and examining social determinants. The chapter then describes a parallel evolution of thought within the rehabilitation and disability fields of moving from a medical model perspective to a social model perspective of understanding disability. Readers are informed about this paradigmatic shift that has led us to the point of spurring public health to embrace the approximately 20–25% of our American population living with disabilities as a minority group who can benefit from greater research in this area. The chapter provides evidence of social determinants of health that contribute to poorer health and health outcomes for the general population of Americans as well as the current evidence related to these determinants for Americans with disabilities.