DART - Disability Awareness Resource Team
D |
THE
DISABLING SOCIETY
A
D*A*R*T
Publication THE
MEDICAL MODEL OF DISABILITY V THE
SOCIAL MODEL OF DISABILITY THE
MEDICAL MODEL OF DISABILITY This
is one of the oldest and most entrenched ways of looking at people with
disabilities. It comes from the premise that disability is a medical
‘problem’. Solutions to this ‘problem’ are based around curing, or
making the disabled person better. While people with disabilities accept that
medical help is often essential, they find that being viewed as just a
“medical condition” is very limiting and very stigmatising. For
example, someone might be introduced to you in this way, “This
is John; he’s diabetic!” Whilst
John may well have diabetes, you can be pretty sure that John, “the person”
is much more interesting. The
medical model of disability also implies that the answer to these difficulties
lies with the disabled person themselves or, “You won’t be equal until you get better”. Or “Of course you can’t get into the building, you’re
sick”. THE
SOCIAL MODEL OF DISABILITY D*A*R*T believes that the social model of disability is much more realistic and helpful for people with disabilities. The social model takes a wider view; that people are actually ‘disabled’ by the society in which they live. For example, if you use a wheelchair and you want to go to the pictures and you are able to get to, and into, the cinema, and you can use the toilet if necessary – then there is no problem. Categorising a person as disabled in this situation seems superfluous. Lots of
people have less than perfect eyesight but would not be considered as disabled
because the provision of spectacles allows them to get on with their life and
the so-called disability is no longer an issue. The social model says that the
problem lies with the “Disabling society” rather than with the disabled
person. The social model of disability therefore
allows groups such as D*A*R*T
to challenge and to actively work to remove the barriers which prevent disabled
people from being full and active members of society. Copyright © 1999 D*A*R*T
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