Examples of how society could change to allow disabled people to participate equally:
|
Medical model problem |
Social model solution |
|
Painful hands, unable to open jars, doors |
Better designed lids, automatic doors |
|
Difficulty in standing for long periods |
More seats in public places |
|
“Housebound” or “Confined to a wheelchair” |
Badly designed buildings – need ramps and lifts in all buildings, also accessible transport/parking spaces |
|
Other people won’t give you a job because they think you couldn’t do it |
Educate people to look at disabled people’s knowledge and skills rather than looking for problems |
|
Can’t hear or see |
Recognition and use of sign language and Braille/raised letters. |
In the Medical Model, the disabled person is placed at the centre of the “problem”. Considered “defective” or “not normal”, disabled people are often described or believed to be:
- unable to make decisions
- in need of a doctor or a cure
- always in need of help, sympathy and charity
- can never be equal to a non-disabled person
Much of this language is negative and does not describe the experience of disabled people.
The Social Model is an alternate way of understanding access issues and social exclusion and sees the problem as a “disabling world”. The Social Model explores why our society does not treat all its members as equal.