Models of Disability
Blogging Task – Disability ( Element 2 ) I have split the elements/items in the task to help with reading.
UAL Disability Services Webpages.
This site is packed with information that is useful for all students at UAL, as well as general knowledge applicable beyond UAL.
For further reading:
- Equality Act 2010: https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010
- Access, Support, and Facilities for Disabled Students. E.g Applying for DSAs: https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/30767/Access-Support-and-Facilities-for-Disabled-Students-at-UAL-PDF-302KB.pdf
UAL and the Disability Service use the Social Model of Disability.
The Social Model of Disability.
The Social Model of disability is a concept that was developed by people with disabilities to take action against discrimination and to centre equality and human rights. This model in the UK emerged in 1975 in discussions held between the Disability Alliance and the Union of Impaired against Segregation.
This model is a way of viewing the world that contrasts with the traditional model which presents disability as an individual or medical problem. The keyword here is SOCIAL.
The organisations viewed disability as a concept that emerged from society, rather than a situation inherent within the body or self: meaning because society does not make provision for all, disability is “visible” . The model brings to the forefront that our world and experiences of it are shaped by society. The model states that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. Thus, this model puts the onus on everyone to be conscious and act to remove any existing barriers. These barriers can be behavioural or physical; for example, an exhibition space with a high stage that doesn’t use a ramp for wheelchair users, not hosting classes on the ground floor, when the lifts are not working, producing important documents like handbooks, and learning guides that do not consider the neurodiversity of our students, having strict and linear methods of assessing work, etc. These barriers become a systemic form of exclusion when we don’t respond and challenge our biases, privileges, and norms.
The Social Model brings to the forefront the power dynamics and hierarchy that are at play to segregate others based on their difference, with a strong reference to “order”, capitalist structures, and thus “class”.
Furthermore, the social model begins to hint at the intersectionality of disability.
It also hints at the relationality of disability (drawing on the emphasis on the word social)
There are other models of disability such as the Radical Model of Disability.
The Radical Model of Disability
The radical model extends the social model by expanding on the framework of justice and intersectionality.
It affirms disability as a natural part of human diversity, as well as the social but emphasises the political construction of this concept.
Furthermore, because it acknowledges that it is a political system of domination and oppression, it connects all facets of identity in its movement. The oppression and struggles, against black people, woman, the working-class, LGBTQ+ peoples, etc are in the same breath the concerns of the oppression against people with disabilities because the model is concerned with justice and highlights that it is the same system of oppression at work.