1 Models of Disability April 8 th, 2008

2 Review of Last Class Language Person First Language Pride Language Basic Concepts Ablism Overcoming Pity Super Crip Definitions Impairment Handicap Disability

3 Models of Disability Moral Personal Tragedy Medical Social

4 Moral Model Two Parts Religious and Spiritual origin Punishment from God (ie: due to displeasure) Evil spirits (possessed) Witchcraft Bad Karma (did something evil in the past) Gift from God (cross to bear, angelic) Character weakness Corruptness Immoral-ness Examples: villains in movies, refrigerator mothers, faking, unmotivated

5 Moral Model (cont.) 2 nd part of moral model: Character weakness Corruptness Immoral-ness Examples: villains in movies, refrigerator mothers, faking, unmotivated

6 Personal Tragedy Model Disability is considered a tragedy Society needs to take care and protect persons with disabilities If someone with a disability achieves something that a “normal” person does, then the person with a disability is looked at as inspirational (super crip) This is often mixed with the Moral and Medical Models Examples: inspiration news story, telethons, charities

7 Medical Model An individual with a disability has a physical or mental impairment The disability is within a person Focus is on minimizing or eliminating the impairment Examples: think bell curve, rehabilitation, pharmaceuticals

8 Social Model Instead of disability originates within the person, disability originates from society Disability results from barriers in society and the environment Physical barriers Attitudinal barriers

9 Disability Activists (UK)1976 (UPIAS - Union of Physically Impaired Against Segregation) Disability: “the disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by a contemporary social organization which takes no or little account of people who have physical impairments and thus excludes them from the mainstream of social activities” Changes the focus of disability away from the individual to Society. (1 st articulation of the “Social Model of Disability”)

10 Social Model States that inappropriate and discriminatory Social Attitudes (Ableism), Sociopolitical Structures, and Cultural Phenomena are the central problem for disabled people

11 Social Model Variants Social (Creation)- UK Social (Construction)- US Minority (Political/Cultural) Independent Living Model- ILM Human Variation Post-Modern / Dismodern

12 Social Model Variants - Social (Creation) UK The historical convergence of industrialization and capitalism as restricting impaired people’s access to material and social goods, which results in their economic dependency and creates the category of disability Marxist and materialist interpretation of the world

13 Social Model Variants - Social (Construction) US Assumes that inappropriate and discriminatory social attitudes and cultural phenomena are the central problem for people with impairments

14 Social Model Variants - Minority Inappropriate and discriminatory social attitudes, sociopolitical structures - cultural phenomena are the central problem for disabled people political based used to counter discrimination and advocate for civil rights disABILITY identity / Pride / Culture

15 Social Model Variants – Independent Living Model (ILM) States that current sociopolitical structures produce access barriers for and dependency in impaired people resulting in disability is based on a consumer driven movement that fosters autonomy, self-help and the removal of societal barriers and disincentives

16 Social Model Variants – Human Variation Universal Design re-think= The built environment; economic, social, cultural, and political entities including organizations that provide employment, education, health care, transportation, communication, and the full range of public services.

17 Social Model Variants – Postmodern Theory sees disability as constructed via discursive practices (Talk / write=create disability) perceives disability identity as fluid and its boundaries dependent on context and the dynamic interaction of other self-identities emphasizes a dialogic relation between impairment and disability (not an analytical privileging of one over the other)

18 "Through framing disability, through conceptualizing, categorizing, and counting disability, we create it.” Higgins, Paul. (1992) Pp. 6-7 Making Disability: Exploring the Social Transformation of Human Variation. Springfield, Il: Charles C. Thomas

19 Social Model Variants – Dismodern Theory L. Davis Sees imperfection as the norm Normal is a fairly new term…

20 1.disability is restricted activity (caused by social barriers) 2. disability is a form of social oppression 3. disability is created by categorizing bodies/minds as normal or abnormal Social Model Variants – Summary

21 Initially: Social model tries to breaks the bio- medical chain of causation: Impairment Disability Why was this strategically important to DRM (Disability Rights Movement) ?

22 While the social model redefines “disability,” it stops short of questioning the status of “impairment” Impairment is a necessary condition for disability. Impairment is a “real entity,” a condition of the body, which remains the exclusive domain of medical interpretation and/or intervention. Minimizes the experience of impairments

23 Models – Summary Problem is the Individual Moral Personal Tragedy Medical Problem is Society Social

24 Why should we care? How Disability Is Defined Determines What Is Measured Policy implications Allocation of resources

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