dse scholarship is based on a social conception of disability that identifies barriers, attitudes, and actions that serve to systematically exclude individuals with disabilities society. it is a reaction to the dominant medical model of disability which positions people with disabilities as having limitations outside of the "normal" or typical boundaries that require remediation and intervention. dse has its origins in sociological theories of deviance, social stigma and labeling theory as social construction. by 1970, there emerged critiques of labeling in special education, now referred to as ableism.