Disability is not Inability

The social model of disability

This distinguishes between impairment (the concrete physical or mental state) and disability (the socio-cultural construct). It holds that impairments are not inherently disabling, but that disability is caused by society which fails to provide for people with impairments, and which puts obstacles in their way.

Examples include access: the built environment often does not allow access for people with mobility problems. Discriminatory attitudes are also disabling: for example, the idea that disability is a personal tragedy for the ‘sufferer’ impinges upon disabled people in a variety of negative ways, from their social relationships to their ability to get jobs.

Disability is produced in different forms, and in different proportions, in different cultures (Oliver, 1996). Factors such as industrialisation and wars impact on the types and extents of impairments.

The ways in which disability is viewed in a culture are also dependent on factors such as religion and capitalism. Some religions will see epilepsy as possession by a god and therefore a gift, whereas in capitalist western societies where medicine is powerful, disability acts as evidence of the failure of medicine and is thus treated negatively.

The social model can best be explained using the Classroom Workshop theory by Professor "Beez" Schell.

:: The WHO Model.

:: The Charity Model.

:: The Capability Model.

:: The social Model

:: The Medical Model

:: The Metaphor Model.