A critical issue for bridging aging and disability research is developing a shared conceptualization of disability. Models of disability in aging research often employ a medical perspective disability or sometimes reference ecological aging and person-environment frameworks, but do not typically identify social forces and actors being as accountable for remediating disability. However, disability researchers, often approach their work from the position that eliminating disability requires individual and social action; disability is not inherently a personal issue. Disability-related civil rights laws and policies in the U.S. have recognized social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors as contributing to disability. These laws apply equally to younger and older people experiencing disability and validate the right to equitable access to inclusion and participation. Recent federal and state actions provide an opportunity for reconsideration of how gerontologists think about social factors that contribute to disability. In this forum discussion, we articulate the importance of understanding the evolution of the theoretical concept of disability alongside legal and policy changes that have advanced disability rights, briefly describe the evolution of the ecological and social models of disability, and highlight how understanding disability within a broader social model has relevance for bridging aging and gerontology research.

Keywords: aging; civil rights; disability; public policy; theoretical models.

© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Gerontological Society of America.