3 societal views of disability

Over the last couple of months, I’ve had some thought-provoking conversations about disability identity. Our identity is a complex thing and is made up of so many different parts. In all honesty the more conversations I have, the more questions come up.

One of the reasons that disability identity interests me so much is we often refer to the “disabled community” like a homogeneous group of people. This could be seen as an oxymoron when we often talk about how we want to be treated as individuals.

It’s really fascinating when you think how we learn about disability through social constructs in daily life. It could be things that we pick up either consciously or subconsciously. This is true for disabled and non-disabled people alike and will shape how we view disability and interact with it.

When I spoke at TEDx Warrington in June, Emma Shaw of Rebels and Rulebreakers grabbed me at the interval to say she enjoyed my talk and how great it would be for the young people in her group to hear my story.

Fast forward to late August and I joined Emma and the other rebels on their ‘Rebel Role Model interview’ to tell them my story.

We talked about a lot of things during the interview starting with some of my early days of using a wheelchair and my adventures since. There were also a couple of tangents that took us to talking about identity.

One piece of feedback after the interview, was how useful someone had found it learning about the social model of disability. In seeing the social model, they found more acceptance to view their disability in the sense that they were disabled by their environment rather than being a person who has problem.

It was great to get that feedback and have someone’s view of disability shift. That got me thinking that other people might not know about models of disability and understanding different points of view. That prompted me to do this blog. Let’s take a look at three models of disability and how they have evolved over time.

The Charity Model

The Charity Model of disability views people as a victim of their disability that needs to be pitied and helped. This model perpetuates the idea of a helpless individual that cannot do thing for themselves and so needs to have things done for them.

When I think of the Charity Model, I imagine a less educated time and people unable to be productive in a working capacity (either because of the jobs available or the views of them being able to do the job) being forced to live on the fringe of society often begging for money to survive.

Although we now have a social system in place that’s there to support people who need it, I think there may be elements of this model that were so ingrained for centuries that they still surface in negative attitudes and views of disability.

The Medical Model

The Medical Model of disability views the individual as the problem in the sense that they need to be fixed. It perpetuates the idea or a “normal” person being someone who is non-disabled and anyone who does not fit that criteria should be fixed so they are able to do things.

This model was developed in the mid-19th century in a time when there had been little scientific progress and such viewed the individual as having the problem that needed to be cured. It goes on to support the idea of a dual tier system in society where non-disabled people are superior and inherently better than disabled people.

The Medical Model still views disability in a negative way and in a similar way to the Charity Model. Some of the elements can still be seen in the way disabled people are treated in society today. The remnants of this model can also be found in negative language used around disability – cripple, handicapped, spastic, retarded.

The Social Model

The Social Model of disability is the most recent of these models to be developed in the late-20th century. Coming from the activism in the British disability movement it takes a big step away from the other models and views disability as a social construct.

Instead of looking at the individual as having the problem, it takes the progressive view that they are only disabled because of the restrictions that society has put in place.

As a wheelchair user, the other models that we’ve looked at would view me using a wheelchair as the reason that I couldn’t get into a restaurant that has steps at the entrance for example. But the Social Model views the fact that the entrance to the restaurant not having a ramp as the thing that stops me from entering the restaurant.

This is a very basic and practical example of a situation and contrasting views from different models, but it can be used across any situation where a person is not given equal access to an opportunity.

Barriers that are in place could be physical as the example of a ramp, but these can also be attitudinal barriers that treat disabled people in different ways to non-disabled people and can be traced back to the other models above.

It’s also important to recognise that some of these barriers can be internalised views and barriers that have been ingrained in our views from a society and systems that are fundamentally built on views that do not offer equitable access.

Person or condition centred language?

There are two main ways that disability is talked about when it comes to people. It’s either condition centred language i.e. disabled person, or person centred language i.e. person with a disability. In the UK, there is a far larger lean to condition centred language while internationally it more often going to be person centred language.

The reason that people sometimes choose one piece of language over the other is the way that they relate to the models that we’ve just looked at.

With person centred language, you’re identifying the person has the disability and so relates closely to the medical model. While the condition centred approach of disabled person is using language that says the person is disabled, which can be taken to mean disabled by the things around them. This is reflective of the social model of disability.

Where are we now?

This is just a quick look at the more popular models of disability. There are more out there and more details available on the ones I’ve talked about. I’d encourage you to look into it more as it’s a fascinating subject that really gives a different perspective on disability.

When I look around at the world we live in, I understand that I’m speaking from a point of privilege in many respects so this is only my personal view, there are some really positive progressive changes happening to create a more equal society. That being said, we are definitely nowhere near the finish line yet and there are still many elements of the outdated models that play a large part in things I see on a daily basis.

This isn’t a reason to get disheartened. It’s a reason to step up our game. In talking about disability more, we can educate and inform and in doing so start to mobilise more of the disabled community and allies.