Compare and Contrast the ‘social Model of Disability’ and the ‘medical Model of Disability’

Compare and contrast the ‘Social Model of Disability’ and the ‘Medical Model of Disability’

This essay will begin by first defining on what exactly disability is, and how it has evolved throughout time. It will then go-on to explain both the ‘Social Model’ and the ‘Medical Models’ of disability, giving a detailed analysis into them both and by giving the views and opinions of both the professionals involved with treating disability and the disabled people themselves. After understanding the two conceptual models of disability, this essay will carry-on to explore the similarities and differences by comparing the two, before concluding by reviewing the key facts and making sure a concise comparison has been made answering weather there is a valid distinction between the social and medical model of disability.

‘There is clear evidence that existence of impairment is as old as the human body’ (1). However through the past thirty years the understanding of disability has changed radically. Defining and categorising disability has often been left to professionals such as doctors and therapists, each with their own interpretation of what exactly meets the criteria. In the past, there has been much confusion and speculation over who is to be classified as what. In 1980 the existing ‘International classification of Disease’ was expanded on, to cover classifying impairment and long-term illness and the result was later published and released as ‘The International Classification of Impairment Disability & Handicap’ (ICIDH). This has been used widely ever since by professionals, as a catalogue for defining disability.

Prior to the 17th Century despite harshness of living conditions, most people were still included and accepted by their families and village communities. The few people that were rejected from society relied on charity for subsistence. Throughout the 18th and 19th century the institutionalisation of the impaired increased quite dramatically. Special homes for the ‘Sick and the Bedridden’ became much more common to provide care and treatment in a secure environment.

The social model of disability recognises that some people have impairments which affect how they function physically or mentally. But those people are disabled by the rules that exist in a society that does not take account of their needs. Those may be in physical or personal aspects of society, or just by people’s ignorance and negative attitudes. The social model sees disabled people as having the same wants, needs and aspirations to non disabled people. Disabled people should enjoy the same freedoms and choices as those who are non disabled, and to be allowed equal responsibility in deterring their life choices. Disability is not seen as something requiring pity or in need of a cure. Indeed it may be viewed as a positive quality. Equality for disabled people is seen in the same light as equality for any other group.

The medical model of disability however is often cited by disabled peoples civil rights groups when evaluating the costs and benefits of invasive or traumatic medical procedures, prosthetics, ‘cures’ and medical tests, such as genetic screening. Often a medical model of disability is used to justify large investments in these procedures, technologies and research, when adaptation of the disabled person’s environment would be cheaper and more attainable. ‘Some disabled civil rights groups see the medical model of disability as an unethical issue, and criticise charitable or medical initiatives that use it in their portrayal of disabled people because