Social Model of Disability

According to the medical model
of disability,

the word disabled means "less able".

Less able to achieve your potential.

Less able to have
meaningful relationships.

Less able to play an active part
in the world around you.

And that this is just your bad luck.

This outdated view of the world puts the

responsibility of overcoming
disabling barriers

on the person with an impairment.

But this idea is changing...

The more modern Social Model
of disability says

that a person doesn't

"have a disability"

but that they are disabled.

They are disabled by society.

It is the attitudes and physical

barriers imposed on them by society that

prevents them from achieving
their potential.

The Social Model was developed by

disabled people and their allies

to help them take action
against discrimination,

and to empower people to find solutions,

remove barriers, and campaign together

for equality and human rights.

They showed how people with
lots of different impairments

face many of the same problems.

These disabling barriers include:

prejudiced opinions and attitudes,

restricted access, and people being

systematically excluded.

The social model looks for the ways that

society can be planned and organized

in order to provide accessibility

independence and opportunity

in a way that enables people rather than

disables them.

What we learn from the social
model of disability

is that disability is a social construct

created by social barriers.

Barriers which can be eliminated.

We learn that it is the responsibility

of government, public spaces,

businesses, and individual people to make

the changes,

to increase the access and build a more

equal society

where everyone has the opportunity to

reach their full potential.