SOCIAL JUSTICE & DIVERSE LEARNERS COMMITTEE Alice-Ann Darrow, Chairperson
CommitteeReports
Don’t say disability! Do say disability! D
on’t say disability! Do say disability!
tions? Which major life activities? Who
Medical Model of Disability
it depends. Some individuals do not con-
are substantially limited? Sixty-one mil-
disability is a result of an individual’s
Well, which is it? The answer is …
sider themselves disabled while others
embrace the term disabled as a person-
al descriptor. Whether to say disability
depends on two factors: who the term is
being assigned to and how the term is
decides if a person’s major life activities
In the Medical Model of Disability, one’s
lion Americans live with a disability;
physical, sensory, or cognitive impair-
many of these individuals do not consider themselves to be impaired or limited in any substantial way.
Francis and Silvers (2016) defined dis-
being defined. The generally accepted
ability as “a term with different special-
by the Centers for Disease Control and
particular policy or program that uses it.
definition of disability and the one used Prevention (2022) is “any condition of the body or mind that makes it more difficult
for the person with the condition to do certain activities and interact with the world around them.” The Americans with
Disabilities Act (2022) defines an individual with a disability as “a person who
has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life
activities.” Both definitions are vague
and beg for further explanation. What is meant by limita-
ized meanings, each developed for the How disability is conceptualized shifts relative to the methodologies used to study it and the contexts in which it is addressed. The criteria for judging people to be disabled likewise fluctuate over time
and across different social and cultural
a deficit within the individual. In the
medical model, typical human traits or characteristics are valued; thus, aberra-
tions from these norms are considered defects that need to be fixed or cured. For
the many individuals who accept their disabilities or consider them to be an
important part of their personhood, the
notion that they need fixing is hurtful and
often affects their social acceptance and employment potential.
contexts” (p. 1). Their definition allows
Social Model of Disability
deserves, both in terms of the context in
ed in response to the medical model, takes
the flexibility that the word disability
The Social Model of Disability, construct-
which it is used and the individual being
a different approach to disability. The
described. It also suggests that the cultural lens through which disability is viewed
should be considered. Two such lenses are the Medical Model of Disability and
the Social Model of Disability (Haegele & Hodge, 2016).
< The disability pride flag
34
ment. These impairments are considered
social model distinguishes between disabilities and impairments. Impairments
refer to an individual’s physical condi-
tion, such as hearing loss. Disability is a result of societal barriers that affect a person’s ability to function. For persons with hearing loss, their “disability” might
be the high cost of hearing aids, the lack of
Created by Ann Magill, the
real-time captioning options, the absence
different disabilities, and
who communicate using sign language
move around
imposed by society, not their physical
in creative
remove societal barriers rather than how
zigzag colors represent
of interpreters, or attitudes toward people
how disabled people
rather than speech. Their disability is
barriers
impairment. The remedy becomes how to
ways.
to fix their hearing loss. Persons who sub-
scribe to the Social Model of Disability are
