Module 1, Talk 1.1: Introducing the Social Model of Disability

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Module 1, Talk 1.1Introducing the Social
Model of Disability
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Defining Disability Moving beyond the
medical model

• National Rehabilitation Hospital
• Washington, DC

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The Consumer Professional Partnership Program

• Consumers co-present in education settings for
  health care professionals
• The SCI Life Educator Concept

• Training Manual
• Disability Awareness and Communication
• Prevention of Secondary Conditions
• Physical Activity and Exercise

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Goals

• To provide an alternative understanding of the
  concept of disability
• To introduce the social model of disability
• To raise awareness about disability from the
  consumer perspective

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How to define disability?

• Individual model
• Medical model
• Social model

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Models of disability

• Individual Disability is located in the
  individual with an emphasis on individual coping
  and acceptance
• Medical Disability defined in reference to the
  persons functional status or condition with an
  emphasis on cure/reduction of functional deficits
• Disability associated with loss (e.g. loss of
  function, impairment, deficits)

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The Social Model of Disability

• The Nagi Model
• Expansion of the Medical Model
• Disability is a function of the interaction of
  individuals and the social and physical
  environments
• Focus on barriers, disabling and enabling factors
  in the physical environment and society
• Concept of functional limitations as influenced
  by social roles, as opposed to medical
  quantifiers (e.g., ability to care for a child
  vs. how many lbs. can be lifted)

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The Social Model of Disability, cont.

• Disability as expression of human diversity and
  not as something in need of cure or
  correction
• More in tune with the views and experiences of
  people with disabilities
• Emphasizes social and economic participation over
  medical orientation

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• Disability, according to the social model, is all
  the things that impose restrictions on disabled
  people ranging from individual prejudice to
  institutional discrimination, from inaccessible
  buildings to unusable transport systems, from
  segregated education to excluding work
  arrangements, and so on. Further, the
  consequences of this failure do not simply and
  randomly fall on individuals but systematically
  upon disabled people as a group who experience
  this failure as discrimination institutionalized
  through society. (Oliver, 1996, p. 33).

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Impairment vs. Disability

• Impairment
• biological, functional, cognitive
• Disability
• reduced participation due to societys failure to
  accommodate the needs of individuals

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International Classification of Functioning,
Disability Health (ICF)

• Developed by WHO, replaces ICIDH (International
  Classification of Impairments, Disabilities,
  Handicaps)
• Concept of Functioning
• Body functions, activities, and participation
• Concept of Disability
• The interaction between impairments and activity
  limitations or restrictions in participation
• Activity limitations Nagis functional
  limitations

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ICF, cont.
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Subjective interpretations of disability Which
of the following statements reflects the medical
vs. the social model?

• My doctors office is not accessible since it
  has no wheelchair access. This keeps me from
  seeing my doctor for check-ups.
• I have a spinal cord injury and use a
  wheelchair, so I cant see the doctor because of
  this.

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Key Points to Remember

• The individual/medical model identifies
  disability as a problem located in the
  individual and emphasizes the biological
  differences compared to the general population.
• The social model looks beyond the individual and
  focuses on the barriers that are imposed on
  individuals by society and environment.

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Key Points to Remember, cont.

• Most people with disabilities think about their
  lives in terms of the social model of disability.
• The International Classification of Functioning,
  Disability and Health (ICF) developed by the
  World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the
  difference between impairment and social
  participation.

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Optional Teaching Exercise

• Think about a person with a SCI or other
  disability you may have met in your clinical
  practice. Use the different models, the
  individual/medical and social model, to describe
  this person. What interventions would you suggest
  based on the needs resulting from the
  individual/medical model and the social model
  description?