- Vincent Boissonnat: CRESP, Inserm - Université Paris 13, 93017 Bobigny Cedex 13. vincent.boissonnat@sante.gouv.fr
This article deals with disabilities in the light of social inequalities. The three constitutive levels of disabilities, as defined by Wood, are successively studied: impairments deficiencies, disabilities incapabilities, and disadvantages. The results, coming from the first French national survey on disabilities, show that impairments deficiencies are more frequent at the lower end of the social scale. These inequalities increase when sequentially considering impairments deficiencies, disabilities, incapabilities and then disadvantages. The scope of inequalities observed at these three levels makes us questioning the efficiency of the programmes aimed at correcting for disabilities.