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7215036 
Journal Article 
CONCEPTUAL ISSUES IN DISABILITY: SAAD NAGI'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE DISABILITY KNOWLEDGE BASE 
Altman, BM; , 
2017 
EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD 
BINGLEY 
SOCIOLOGY LOOKING AT DISABILITY: WHAT DID WE KNOW AND WHEN DID WE KNOW IT 
57-95 
WOS:000410830400006 
Purpose - As sociologists we all try to make a contribution to our field. Having completed our comprehensives and dissertations we have read in depth in several areas, have focused on an area that interests us, and have learned the research process whether it uses quantitative or qualitative methodology. We all make our contributions available to the field, but occasionally one among us makes a startling discovery, has an unusual idea or a way to approach a problem, starts examining a new problem at just the right moment, or has an insight into a specific conceptual problem with unusual alacrity. A few among us combine all that skill and happenstance and lead the way into new sociological insights, new areas of research and provide a notable foundation or advancement to an area of knowledge. Saad Nagi is one of those contributors with vision, insight, and skill to see ahead of his time. This paper attempts to bring together in one place his major contributions to the disability knowledge base in sociology.Methodology/approach - The approach used in this paper is an in depth review of all of Nagi's published works in the area of disability. The published literature is grouped into the five areas in which Nagi made major contributions, including major research of the Social Security Disability Insurance process; development of a framework for the disability process; epidemiological definitions and research; development of a coherent set of disability measures; and an examination of the social problem, policy, and program process as developed and practiced in this country.Findings - Nagi made a large and significant contribution in all the areas listed above and much of the measurement, and process examination is still relevant and useful in current research. His framework is still the basis for the very newest models of disability which dominate disability research today.Research implications - Researchers need to go back to find Nagi books and articles written in the 60s, 70s, and 80s to ground their work in the originals rather than to take the interpretations of others on this material. The ICF and the Social Model did not originate in Europe alone, but much of the work began in the states in the early 60s with the work of Nagi, Haber, and others and should not be overlooked or ignored. 
Green, SE; Barnartt, SN; 
978-1-78635-478-5