Disability
- No single definition of disability
- 14.6 million people in UK report having a disability.
- Legal definition: Having a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and
long terms adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day to day activities.
- Some disabilities are hidden
- Language used to describe disability changes over time.
- Some people reject the label ‘disabled’.
- Local councils aid disabilities - provide care and support, as well as equipment.
Define disability as someone who is substantially and permanently impaired.
UN Convention on Disabled Persons Rights:
In 2009, the UK ratified the UNCRPD which contained 50 articles.
In doing so, the country agreed to eliminate disability discrimination, enable disabled people
to live individually in the community, ensure an inclusive education system and protect from
harm.
Rights were reflected in Equality Act 2010 in terms of direct and indirect discrimination and
in the Public Sector Equality Duty which applies to central and local government - all
buildings must have ramps, lifts, disabled toilets, consider height of chairs. Also means
employers have to make reasonable adjustments.
Experience of Disability:
- Physical and psychological impacts such as pain and depression.
- Barriers to activities such as going to the pub or on holiday.
- Stigma - affects wellbeing and confidence
- Discrimination - not getting jobs, not accessing certain services
- Isolation and social exclusion
- Access to education and work
- Poverty
Medical/Biological Model:
- Objective concepts of physical health
- Focus on scientific research and medicine to cure disease
- Disability is a medical or biological dysfunction
- Disabilities are viewed as impairments and seen as the problem
- Focus on disability as being the reason why people can’t participate within society
- Criticisms: Discounts experiences and views of patients, many of the improvements
in health is due to environmental and social changes - not medicine, often criticised
for objective definition - social construction of disability.
- More recently - greater acceptance of social implications, e.g. work of Ervin Goffman
and Stigma (1963) taught on medical degree/training courses - stigma is gap
between idealised and actual self.
- No single definition of disability
- 14.6 million people in UK report having a disability.
- Legal definition: Having a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and
long terms adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day to day activities.
- Some disabilities are hidden
- Language used to describe disability changes over time.
- Some people reject the label ‘disabled’.
- Local councils aid disabilities - provide care and support, as well as equipment.
Define disability as someone who is substantially and permanently impaired.
UN Convention on Disabled Persons Rights:
In 2009, the UK ratified the UNCRPD which contained 50 articles.
In doing so, the country agreed to eliminate disability discrimination, enable disabled people
to live individually in the community, ensure an inclusive education system and protect from
harm.
Rights were reflected in Equality Act 2010 in terms of direct and indirect discrimination and
in the Public Sector Equality Duty which applies to central and local government - all
buildings must have ramps, lifts, disabled toilets, consider height of chairs. Also means
employers have to make reasonable adjustments.
Experience of Disability:
- Physical and psychological impacts such as pain and depression.
- Barriers to activities such as going to the pub or on holiday.
- Stigma - affects wellbeing and confidence
- Discrimination - not getting jobs, not accessing certain services
- Isolation and social exclusion
- Access to education and work
- Poverty
Medical/Biological Model:
- Objective concepts of physical health
- Focus on scientific research and medicine to cure disease
- Disability is a medical or biological dysfunction
- Disabilities are viewed as impairments and seen as the problem
- Focus on disability as being the reason why people can’t participate within society
- Criticisms: Discounts experiences and views of patients, many of the improvements
in health is due to environmental and social changes - not medicine, often criticised
for objective definition - social construction of disability.
- More recently - greater acceptance of social implications, e.g. work of Ervin Goffman
and Stigma (1963) taught on medical degree/training courses - stigma is gap
between idealised and actual self.
