Disability is a human reality that has been perceived differently by diverse cultures and historical periods. For most of the 20th century, disability was defined according to a medical model. In the medical model, disability is assumed to be a way to characterize a particular set of largely static, functional limitations. This led to stereotyping and defining people by condition or limitations.
World Health Organization (WHO) – New definition of Disability In 2001, the World Health Organization (WHO) established a new definition of disability, declaring it an umbrella term with several components: * impairments: a problem in body function or structure * activity limitations: a difficulty encountered by a person in executing a task or action * participation restrictions: a problem experienced by a person in involvement in life situations. Social or Human Rights – New Model The new definition of disability: * Emphasizes the contextual Focuses on the role played by society in defining, causing, or maintaining disability, or disabling experiences * Respects individual abilities and choices Definition of disability| OLD APPROACH| NEW PARADIGM| * A diagnosis * A medical “problem”.
A person is limited and defined by the impairment or condition| * A social and environmental issue that deals with accessibility, accommodations, and equity * Individuals with temporary or permanent impairments require accommodations to live full and independent lives| Strategies to address disability| OLD APPROACH| NEW PARADIGM| Fix the individual * Correct the deficit within the individual * Provide medical, vocational, or psychological rehabilitation services| * Remove barriers: physical, intellectual, cultural and educational * Create access through accommodations, universal design, and inclusive learning environments| Role of person with disability| OLD APPROACH| NEW PARADIGM| * Object of intervention * Patient * Research subject| * Community member * Participant in cultural discourse * Decision maker * Customer, museum patron, artist, critic| Models of Disability
The Essay on Individual Person
1.1 Person – centred is about providing care and support that is centred or focused on the individual and their needs. We are all individual and just because two people might have the same medical condition, for eg.Dementia, it does not mean that they require the same care and support. As a care worker I need to understand what the values are. There are eight person centred values: ...
There are 2 main models of disability: the Medical Model and the Social Model. The Medical Model Under the Medical Model, disabled people are defined by their illness or medical condition. The Medical Model regards disability as an individual problem. It promotes the view of a disabled person as dependent and needing to be cured or cared for, and justifies the way in which disabled people have been systematically excluded from society. The disabled person is the problem, not society. Control resides firmly with professionals; choices for the individual are limited to the options provided and approved by the ‘helping’ expert.
The Medical Model is best summarised by referring to the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps developed by the World Health Organisation in 1980. The classification makes the following distinctions: Impairment is ‘any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function’. Disability is ‘any restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being’.
Diagram of Medical Model The Medical Model focuses on what a person can’t do: Impairment| Disability| A wheelchair user| cannot climb the stairs or walk to the shops| A partially sighted person| cannot read information in ‘standard’ size print| A person with an acquired brain injury| cannot speak as quickly as other people| People with disabilities have generally rejected this model. They say it has led to their low self esteem, undeveloped life skills, poor education and consequent high unemployment levels.
Above all, they have recognised that the Medical Modelrequires the breaking of natural relationships with their families, communities and society as a whole. The Social Model During the 1960’s and 1970’s newly formed groups of disabled people started to challenge the way in which they were treated and regarded within society. Alternative definitions of impairment and disability were developed and formed the basis of what is known as the Social Model. Impairment is the functional limitation within the individual caused by physical, mental or sensory impairment.
The Term Paper on Critically Evaluate The Medical Model And The Social Model Of Disability
... the social model of disability implies that it is society and an inaccessible environment which disables people, not their impairment (Oliver, 1983). Medical explanations of disability are ...
Disability is the loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in the normal life ofthe community on an equal level with others due to physical and social barriers. (Barnes, 1994:2) Disability is no longer seen as an individual problem but as a social issue caused by policies, practices, attitudes and/or the environment. For example, a wheelchair user may have a physical impairment but it is the absence of a ramp that prevents them from accessing a building. In other words, the disabling factor is the inaccessible environment.
The disabled people’s movement believes the ‘cure’ to the problem of disability lies in the restructuring of society. Unlike medically based ‘cures’, that focus on individuals and their impairment, this is an achievable goal and to the benefit ofeveryone. This approach suggests that disabled people’s individual and collective disadvantage is due to a complex form of institutional discrimination as fundamental to our society as sexism, racism or homophobia. The social model focuses on ridding society of barriers, rather than relying on ‘curing’ people who have impairments.
