Models of Disability exist to help us understand what disability is, what it means to be disabled, and how should people and society respond to Disabled People (DP).
The Social Model Of Disability (SMoD) tells us that it is the result of barriers that exist in society that disable a person, rather the impairment. For example, the venue has steps and no lift, so a person in a wheelchair can’t access it. They are ‘disabled’ by society. These can be dismantled with human endeavour.
The Medical Model (MM) says that it is the impairment or what is wrong with a person that is disabling. They ‘have’ a disability. The MM sees Impairments as tragic and tries to cure them.
There is a third choice called The Affirmation Model, which was developed out of the SMoD. This sees impairment as a part of human diversity, which creates a unique and valuable human experience. This underpins the idea that disabled people can flourish and be the people they want to be.
What is the social model of disability [SMoD]?
This Understands disability as something imposed on people by Society; it is a form of social oppression created by an ableist agenda, favouring non-disabled people and marginalising disabled people. Examples Of this include if people cannot vote because they are unable to access the polling station if someone cannot Find how to contact the local councillor Because The digital resources which contain the contact information are inaccessible, If you can’t get a job because of employers attitudes and if Someone cannot buy a train ticket because the self Service Machines are inaccessible and there is no ticket office.
The SMoD Understands That your disability is caused by other things outside of yourself And control, i.e. It is not your fault you cannot participate. The SMoD was most developed in the 1970s by a group of disabled people in the UK That belonged to an organisation called the The Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS)
Read more about the SMoD here: https://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/library/
There is one more model of disability you need to know about that Relates to people with autism, ADHD and A number of other Neuro divergencies.
The neurodiversity paradigm was introduced in the late 1990s, and it divided the world into neurotypical and neurominorities. It says that the diversity of minds and brains should be valued and celebrated, and it rejects negative language and associations with the medical model. Neurodivergent people understand disability to be the product of an interaction between the characteristics of an individual disabled person and the environment around them. It says that disability can be addressed by reshaping environments and society (e.g., providing quiet rooms and raising awareness) or increasing the individual’s skill set (e.g., new adaptive skills).
More information here: https://neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions/
Check out this great short film to learn more about the social model of disability and why it matters.
What is the medical model of disability?
The MM has Been around forever And a day And Understands disability to be caused by the condition that you were born with or developed. Also known as The tragedy or pathology model, it puts the blame firmly on the individual. If you can’t access or go to a place, it must be due to your disability, and you must adapt in order to get access to the things that you want.
This Dominates the public narrative on disability And can be very disempowering to disabled people because it appears to place all the onus on the disabled person for their ‘problems’. Interestingly, A large proportion of disabled people have heard of the social model of disability, Which makes it difficult to Counteract the powerful medical model’s interpretation. It is one of difference’s key objectives to spread the messages contained within the social and affirmation models of disability, to give all disabled People, especially young Disabled people, The opportunity to choose A positive Life trajectory with futures full of potential.
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