Have you heard of the Social Model of Disability?
- kevinndaws
- Jun 28
- 5 min read
What is it?
The social model of disability defines disability as a result of societal barriers, rather than individual impairments. It emphasizes that people with impairments are disabled by the way society is structured, such as inaccessible environments, negative attitudes, and discriminatory policies, which prevent their full participation and equality.
Let us go back to the beginning and the origin of the social model of disability
The starting point for the social model was the publication of The Fundamental Principles of Disability by the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) in 1976. It stated that:
“In our view it is society which disables physically impaired people. Disability is something imposed on top of our impairments by the way we are unnecessarily isolated and excluded from full participation in society”
This turned the understanding of disability completely on its head by arguing that it was not impairment that was the main cause of the social exclusion of disabled people but the way society responded to people with impairments.
UPIAS created new definitions of impairment and disability. They defined impairment as "lacking part of or all of a limb, or having a defective limb, organism or mechanism of the body" and disability as "the disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by contemporary organisation which takes no or little account of people who have physical impairments and thus excludes them from the mainstream of social activities".
They also rejected the notion that experts could prescribe how disabled people should live their lives:
“We reject also the whole idea of "experts" and professionals holding forth on how we should accept our disabilities, or giving learned lectures about the "psychology" of disablement. We already know what it feels like to be poor, isolated, segregated, done good to, stared at, and talked down to — far better than any able-bodied expert. We as a Union are not interested in descriptions of how awful it is to be disabled. What we are interested in, are ways of changing our conditions of life, and thus overcoming the disabilities which are imposed on top of our physical impairments by the way this society is organised to exclude us. In our view, it is only the actual impairment which we must accept; the additional and totally unnecessary problems caused by the way we are treated are essentially to be overcome and not accepted. We look forward to the day when the army of "experts" on our social and psychological problems can find more productive work.
The social model sees the person first and argues that the barriers they face, and not their impairments, are what cause them to be disabled.
Barriers can make it impossible or very difficult to access jobs, buildings or services, but one of the biggest barriers is attitudes to disability. The social model says removing the barriers is the best way to include millions of disabled people in our society.
Someone with a mobility impairment, for example, becomes disabled when they encounter a building or service that's inaccessible to them due to the way it's been designed. That poor design presents a barrier that excludes and disables the person.
Medical Model vs Charity Model vs Social Model
Medical Model
In the past, disabled people were defined in terms of their disability focusing on a person’s impairment rather than the barriers that society creates. This view finds the impairment, illness or disease as the problem and tries to provide special facilities to assist the person. This “medical model” not only disempowers disabled people but it segregates and isolates them from society and its activities, and is a form of disability discrimination.
Traditionally, society has identified people as disabled based on their mental or physical impairments. If a wheelchair user can't access a building the medical model sees their impairment as the problem, rather than the lack of a ramp or lift. They're disabled, and their best hope is to find a cure or technology to make them less so.
This thinking leads to policies that focus on curing or assisting disabled people, rather than transforming society so they can participate fully.
Charity Model
Society often views disabled people as objects of pity, dependant on the kindness of others to help them lead better lives.
Little thought is given to achieving equality, instead the focus is on fundraising and charitable initiatives. These often focus on a person or small group of individuals, and allow those giving to feel good about themselves.
In this model, disabled people are celebrated as heroes or heroines if they manage to 'overcome their disabilities' and achieve something independently.
Social Model
The “social model” of disability which includes everyone in the activities of society and suggests that it is not a person’s impairment or condition which disables them but it is society’s reaction to it that limits their lives and opportunities.
For example, a wheelchair user may be unable to travel freely on public transport not because they use a wheelchair but because there is no lift access at the station or the bus does not have a low floor or a designated space.
Disabled people’s right to independent living is underpinned by the social model which means identifying the barriers to participation and addressing them.
It is vital to change the understanding of disability so that we can stop the treatment of disabled people as second class citizens.
All4inclusion supports campaigns led by disabled people to challenge discrimination and any attacks by this government.
We need to promote the social model to challenge prejudice and discrimination faced by disabled people in our workplaces and our communities. Disabled people, with support, if and when needed, can participate equally in society.
Cancelled Artability Conference in Manchester in 1986
The Artability Conference which was scheduled to take place in Manchester in September 1986 was cancelled due to pressure from disabled people because it was about ‘disabled people’ but was being held in a venue that was not accessible to disabled people.
This Artability Conference was organised on behalf of Manchester City Council by the Artability Committee and what was really surprising was that there were no disabled people on the Committee.
In drawing up the programme the committee had decided to invite disabled people to lead some of the workshops. This event was being organised to showcase the individual disabled artists and arts organisations supporting people with disabilities. The exclusion of persons with disabilities from the planning and organising of the Artability Conference resulted in the event being cancelled.
This experience led to the slogan ‘nothing about us without us’
Resources and further information
This article can only give an overview of the social model of disability and its history but if you would like to know more please follow the links below:
Yes I have kevin - there are quite a few similar models with a few tweaks that have emerged during more recent years which are a hybrid between the social model, but take impairments into consideration a bit more as part of the model. I was friends with a few disability academics before I was banned from facebook, some of whom had written new models and some who believed that we could not get equality unless we get rid of capitalism as we dont function well in a society where humans are viewed based on their individual economic worth to society.