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 ‘disability’ have very different meanings, with impairment referring to an individual’s condition and disability referring to social disadvantage, discrimination, and exclusion.

The minority model is another version of the social model. It was developed in North America by activists and scholars. This version says that persons with disabilities face discrimination and segregation through sensory, attitudinal, cognitive, physical, and economic barriers, and their experiences are therefore perceived as similar to those of an oppressed minority group. Social inequalities by disability status are considered as similar to those encountered by other minorities based on race/ethnicity such as ‘extraordinary high rates of unemployment, poverty and welfare dependency; school segregation; inadequate housing and transportation; and exclusion from many public facilities…’ (Hahn 2002; p. 171).

The social model has been very influential in policy. To some extent, it has grounded human rights advances, such as the United Nations CRPD, which has guided disability laws worldwide. In recent years, it has certainly dominated as a conceptual framework in research at the intersection of disability and development (Coleridge 1993; Stone 1999; Turmusani 2003). For instance, using the social model, Turmusani (2003) advocates a move away from the medical model toward the social model. Disadvantages are viewed as a result of social neglect, oppression, and discrimination, and thus unsurprisingly, it considers the environment as the ‘focal point of action’ for a policy agenda on disability (p. 146). Similarly, Amerena and Barron (2007) argue that change is needed to stop ‘the exclusion of disabled people from social, economic, political and community life’ (p. 19).

Text Attribution

• This chapter was adapted from “Other Disability Models” in Disability, health and human development by Sophie Mitra. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.