Britain's next top model

For years, disability has been defined in medical terms. More recently, campaigners have put the emphasis on how society fails disabled people. Ruth Patrick argues that it’s now time for an entirely new way of thinking

I recently spent several long nights marking a set of first year undergraduate exams. One of the essay questions asked the students to think about the impact of the social model of disability on British policy making. Not all the students grasped the essence of the social model stance: that disability is the physical and attitudinal barriers which society places on those living with impairments. This challenges the traditional medical model of disability which equates disability with impairment and depicts it very much as a “personal tragedy”.

If I had been sitting the exam myself, I would have started by trying to list all the positive things which have come about, at least in part, due to the social model. However, an important caveat would first be required. It is not so much the social model construct which has effected great change but the continued commitment of those in the disability movement, who have loudly and repeatedly demanded better rights and recognition for disabled people. The social model’s unique power has been to provide an overarching framework for the disability movement’s efforts to effect emancipatory change.

Key moments include the passage of the Disability Discrimination Act; the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and New Labour’s stated objective that by 2025 full equality will be realised for all disabled people. Furthermore, the rise in direct payments, the shift towards inclusive education, and increasing support for independent living all suggest a social model influence.

However, it is not a flawless model and has been particularly troublesome in tending to encourage a complete focus on societal barriers and a consequent neglect of impairments. The individual experience of living with and coping with impairment(s) is an important one which helps shape individuals’ identities.

Talking about and sharing the experiences of impairment can also have emancipatory potential by breaking down the barriers of fear and stigma which are so often associated with disability.

This is particularly true of mental health challenges which, when hidden and only talked about in hushed whispers, can all too easily become caricatured and frightening. Early social model campaigners were often opposed to incorporating impairment, for fear of diluting the social model’s potential impact. However, it is now time to look to the impairment dimension and consider how this too can be championed and incorporated into a liberating discourse of disability.

Thus, my exam answer would conclude. The time to talk about impairment has come, but this should be married to a continued effort to articulate the clarion call of the social model: that it is society that needs to change rather than individual disabled people. This message has started to seep in, but many in the media, in parliament, and much of the wider public have yet to grasp the point.