A beginner’s guide to the Social Model of Disability

Regional Disability Leadership Coordinator Kylie Elsbury-Dawson breaks down all we need to know about the social model. We use the term ‘disabled person’ to align with the social model of disability, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Enabling Good Lives Principles and the New Zealand Disability Strategy. We respect the right of all people to define their own individual and varied identities for themselves.

What is Disability?
Language often changes, sometimes for good and sometimes for the not-so-good. Usually when people talk about disability, they are referring to someone as having a disability. What we actually have are impairments – the term ‘disability’ refers to the interaction between the person with the impairment and the environment. So, we have impairments and we are ‘disabled’ by society.

Let’s go back to the beginning…
Prior to 1980, people with impairments were deemed as needing fixing. Whatever impairment they had, would need to be rehabilitated so they could best fit in with society and be as non disabled as possible. This notion is now known as The Medical Model of Disability.

People with impairments were seen as needing medical intervention. Even today, many people hold the attitude that people with impairments need a cure. Medicine does have its place if we are actually sick, but people with impairments (for the most part) are not sick and are actually quite healthy.

What changed?
In the 1970s and 1980s, a group of disabled academics from the UK decided they had had enough of being seen as having something wrong with them. They wanted to change attitudes to re-focus society as a whole and look at changing negative attitudes towards disabled people instead of fixing individuals – then, we could live in a society where we are fully included. This was the basis of forming The Social Model of Disability.

An example of the medical model in action
Bob is a builder who just wants to get the job done. He is building a community centre and it is easier for him to build it with a few stairs entering the building. People who use wheelchairs or have mobility impairments can’t access this building.

An example of the social model in action
The community centre is built with ramps instead of stairs. All people can now access the building. Ramps are not only beneficial to disabled people, but also people with pushchairs.

What’s next?
We still have a long way to go to ensure disabled people are fully included in society, but we have also come a long way in the past 40 years. We need to continue to educate. Disabled people don’t need fixing. We need to be included!

This blog first appeared on the Inclusive Action – Everyday Lives blog and has been republished with permission.