When Carol Gill saw that people with disabilities are seen as "defective" and need to be "fixed or cured," she knew there was a problem. She wrote an essay about how society views these issues, along with surveying dozens of disabled individuals on their thoughts about themselves and the world around them.
The medical model of disability suggests that people with disabilities are broken and need to be fixed.
Gill believed the overemphasis on this approach has prevented those with disabilities from being able to fully participate in society, which is why she created a new framework called Social Model Theory.
The Social Model of Disability
This theory takes into account five key differences between these two models:
- It defines disability as what one needs rather than who they are.
- Emphasizes social factors such as economic status, education level or gender identity instead of biological characteristics.
- Promotes equal access for all members including those without physical limitations like blindness by examining how barriers affect everyone uniformly (e.g., lack of ramps).
- Recognizes ability diversity- no single person can do everything but through collaboration, we can do more together than we can alone.
- Promotes self-determination – people are in charge of their own lives and have the power to change things if they aren’t working (e.g., assistive technology).
Gill says this theory not only looks at how society treats people with disabilities but also how it treats everyone else because disability is a social issue that cuts across all social groups.
She goes on to explain that once you see “disability as something one needs rather than who one is,” it helps us see disabled people as distinct individuals rather than their disability.
It enables us to break down barriers that keep them from having equal access because she says these barriers impact everyone regardless of whether or not they have a disability. Finally, Gill says it teaches us to see disability as a natural part of the human experience that we can accommodate rather than cure.
As for how we can change our views, she talks about 2 ways:
- Learn more about the Social Model by talking to people with disabilities, reading about it, or taking a college class on disability studies.
- Get involved with advocacy groups by doing things like voting for politicians who support equal access, attending protests to raise awareness and volunteering at organizations that benefit people with disabilities.
How Modernity has Changed Views on Disability
The modern world has given us many ways to see our lives and understand our place in society – one of which is whether or not we are disabled. In the past, disability meant something physical like blindness from an accident without a chance of recovery.
Today, the definition of disability encompasses all sorts of disadvantages including mental illness and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). While disability stigma still exists, people who were once looked at differently have now been integrated into mainstream culture by way of legislation supporting accessibility rights for those with disabilities.
In this respect, there are two differing views on what causes these difficulties: some believe it’s a social construct and others believe it is a biological disease.
The idea of disability being socially constructed implies that the state or society expects blindness, for instance, to be seen as an undesirable thing. In these cases, the individual would then act out their role in accordance with what is expected of them; therefore, being disabled becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Instead, those who had an accident and were left blind would now be considered fortunate because they could not control their circumstances. The social model of disability also ties into how people's views on disability have changed over time.
Once believed to have been caused by supernatural powers, "disability" can refer to anything from physical challenges such as poor motor control to learning disorders.
For how this has affected people's lives, one need only look at discrimination in the workplace where disabled workers are paid 20% less than their able-bodied counterparts or how it affects special education and aids for the differently-abled being underfunded.
Despite scientific advancements making it possible to cure diseases that were once thought incurable like cancer and AIDS, there is still a stigma around disability as there are no definite known causes of most disabilities.
Also, within the mainstream culture, we see people being voluntarily excluded from activities such as sports because they do not want to "hold back" those who can run faster or are more coordinated. This social exclusion does great harm to the individual who feels pressured by society into believing they are a burden and are not worthy of respect.
The social model challenges this traditional view by saying that society should accept and support those who have a disadvantage in life instead of pushing them away into "special schools" where they do not receive an adequate education.
For example, in the case of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it is believed that because these individuals lack certain social skills, their disability means they cannot be successful in mainstream culture.
Yet, others believe that giving these people access to support will allow them to adapt to mainstream culture as well as contribute positively to society.
Conclusion
Despite its obvious physical manifestations, a person's disability or inability
to perform certain actions depends on their acceptance within the social construct of what normal is. Since there can be no definite cause of disability, one can never truly say whether disabled people are more worthy than others.
In a perfect world, everyone would be expected to adapt and those with disabilities would not be treated as though they were less worthy of living.
The social model of disability challenges what it means to be disabled in our modern society by calling for an accepting attitude from the rest of us toward those who have been labeled "disabled." It is, therefore, the responsibility of each and every one of us to figure out how we are complicit in this system and then do something about it.
