Models of Disability

Language impairment, an attribute of the individual body or mind disability, effects of environment, society and other factors on a person with an impairment

The medical model The medical model is a term used to describe one way of thinking about disability. This view sees disability as a disease, injury, fault or genetic predisposition. The aim of the medical model is to fix the problem or reduce its impact.

Assumptions of the medical model The problem is located in the young person Professionals should help and look after them The young person wants and needs a cure The young person may not be able to make decisions The young disabled person is not equal to non-disabled peers

The social model of disability Some children are born with an impairment, or may develop one in the course of their younger life. This makes them different from other children. They are then subject to discrimination within society and are therefore doubly impaired because they are disabled by their condition and also by society’s attitude toward them.

Assumptions of the social model Disabled people are an oppressed group There is a distinction between the impairment disabled people have and the oppression they experience Disability is defined as the oppression disabled people experience, rather than the form of the impairment

The social and medical models described above are extremes. Many people think that disability should not be reduced to a medical condition nor that it should it be reduced to an outcome of social barriers alone.