There are a number of ways that people explain what 'disability' is.
When speaking, many people use the word 'disability' to refer to their condition or impairment. For example, some people might say 'My disability is multiple sclerosis' or 'My disability is arthritis'.
However, when 'disability' is treated as an idea to explain the interaction of people with impairments, conditions, or long-tem illnesses with the world around them, two very different approaches are used. One is called the Individual or Medical Model of Disability. The other is known as the Social Model of Disability.
Although they sound very academic, both are simple ideas that have a major impact on the way government, local authorities, health services and others think about deaf and disabled people. These ideas affect how services are delivered and how people are supported in their jobs.
The Medical Model is a traditional approach to disability that says people who have impairments, conditions or long-term illness are unable to do everyday activities that non-disabled people are able to take for granted. The source of people’s problems is their body, mind or learning ability. People have to accept their limitations and learn to adapt their aspirations and what they do to the world around them.
More than 30 years ago, the Social Model of Disability was developed by a group of disabled people to change the way people think about disability. This idea took a very different approach to the Medical Model.
The Social Model says disabled people’s problems are not caused by their body, mind or learning ability but by the society in which they live. The way in which buildings and transport are designed or education, hospitals, councils and government are run or how people think about disability can create barriers and lead to discrimination, exclusion and prejudice if deaf and disabled people’s needs are ignored. Because it is society that creates these problems, it is society that must be changed.
Since the Social Model was developed, there have been lots of positive developments:
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There are laws to stop discrimination.
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Trains, buses and taxis are more accessible.
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More disabled children are educated in mainstream schools.
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Many people with learning disabilities have their own housing tenancies.
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Accessible housing allows people to live independently.
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People arrange their own care services through direct payments and individual budgets.
Disabled people’s needs and experiences vary. Some disabled people use either the Social Model or Medical Model to explain their lives, others use a mixture of both. Whilst recognising these different approaches, Gateshead Council is committed to promoting the Social Model of Disability to ensure that any practice or policy that may discriminate against deaf or disabled people is removed.
The Disability Discrimination Acts 1995 and 2005 use a definition of disability that promotes the Medical Model, that is:
'A person has a disability …… if he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.'
Gateshead Council recognises that many disabled people are unhappy with the limitations of this definition. Until a more appropriate legal definition is developed, our services and staff will use the following definition of disability that promotes the Social Model:
'A person experiences disability if they have a physical, sensory, learning or cognitive impairment or a mental health need and because of this are disadvantaged or restricted in carrying out day-to-day activities by what other people or organisations say or do or by the way society is organised.’
The following definition of impairment will also be used:
'An impairment occurs in someone when a long-term condition or injury or illness affects: their appearance; the functioning of their mind or body; their ability to communicate; or causes pain or fatigue.'