Understanding Disability
Learning Objectives
In this session, you will engage with colleagues to:
- Define disability and accessibility
- Distinguish models of disability
- Uncover disabling environments in higher education
Definitions of Disability
Before we explore accessibility, it is important to clarify our understanding of “disability.” According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), “Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.” The CDC defines disability as “any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities (activity limitation) and interact with the world around them (participation restrictions).” The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines an individual with a disability as one who has “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment.”
Over time, different conceptual models of disability have arisen, affecting not only our definition of “disability” but also the creation of laws, policies, and practices-including those in educational contexts. This section presents three models of disability; for a more thorough discussion, see Models of Disability.
The Medical Model
The medical model (or individual model) considers disability as a problem of the individual that is directly caused by a disease, an injury, or other health conditions, and requires prevention interventions or medical care in the form of treatment and rehabilitation. People are disabled on the basis of being unable to function as a ‘normal’ person does. So this model is strongly normative. In the medical model, disability refers to impairment, health condition, or an ability to perform an activity in a normal way. It restricts disability to an individual phenomenon. Medical rehabilitation then has an important role to play in bringing the person back or close to the norm. The major concern of the medical model at the political level is to provide healthcare and rehabilitation services. The medical model leads to ‘paternalism, pathologisation and benevolence’ (Goodley 2016).
The Social Model
In contrast, the social model would be focused on a person’s environment, for instance the physical environment (can he access his school?) or the social/attitudinal environment (does he get discriminated against by his teachers and classmates?). The social model sees disability as a social creation. Within this framing, disability is not the attribute of the individual, but is instead created by the social environment and thus requires social change. The terms ‘impairment’ and ‘disab