Let's see the social model on the catwalk

Only six per cent of disabled people know about the social model, says Andy Rickell. Society will only benefit if the others start to receive disability equality training

I want to talk about Britain’s missing top model. No, not the reality TV programme about disabled fashion models. I am thinking of the social model of disability.

The social model is a way of thinking about disability which says that the disadvantages that disabled people experience are primarily because of unfair discrimination against them – disablism – which can and should be stopped.

Why do I call the social model a “missing”, “top” model? Because although the social model is meant to be the proper basis for future government policy on disability, few disabled people know about it.

Recent research from the Office for Disability Issues has shown that only six per cent of disabled people know about the social model of disability. This matches similar research done in 2003 by what is now the UK Disabled People’s Council, when the figure was just three per cent. And in my experience, even people who claim knowledge of the social model – disabled and non-disabled – often have limited understanding.

Does this matter? If most disabled people get along without knowing about the social model, perhaps it is not that important. And if some disabled people choose to say that their disadvantage is all to do with their impairments, what right do a relatively small group of activists have to try to indoctrinate them with their own views?

Disability is a very personal issue for every human being. Either we are impaired, or our lives are affected by the impairments of others, or even if we are not impaired now, ageing, accident or illness may result in our future impairment. What we think about disability is very important.

As a society we talk about disability and learn about what we should think from one another. The majority view is that impaired people are inevitably going to be disadvantaged. And being impaired is awful and involves very low quality of life, and impaired people who succeed are the exceptions, brave and superhuman. Also, that the disadvantage can best be addressed by cure or medical treatment;
otherwise, impaired people must be thankful for any help they get.

This thinking is incredibly unfair.

Some impaired people got together and thought about this majority view and felt it was wrong. They developed the social model as an alternative way of thinking about disability which they believed better reflected reality. This social model offered a way forward for disabled people, a means to challenge and change the way society runs, to enable disabled people to be included, and to give a positive identity to being a disabled person.

I believe that a society in which everyone truly knows about the social model of disability is one where people will want to see change that improves disabled people’s inclusion. So how might we teach everyone?

One possibility is for the government to pay for disability equality training for every disabled person. The government itself would then benefit from those knowledgeable disabled people getting better
value from government-funded support.

Such training could be part of human rights training for every citizen, coupled with a UK bill of rights. Now there’s an idea.

• Andy Rickell is an executive director at Scope