Overview
This lecture covers four key models of disability—charity, medical, social, and human rights—and explains how each frames disability and affects support, services, and policy for people with disabilities.
The Charity Model of Disability
- Views disability as a personal tragedy requiring care and protection.
- Sees people with disabilities as helpless, dependent, and objects of pity.
- Emphasizes welfare, charity, and special programs over integration.
- Dominant before the 1960s-70s civil rights movements but still present in media and fundraising.
The Medical Model of Disability
- Locates the "problem" of disability within the individual.
- Focuses on diagnosing and "fixing" impairments through medical intervention.
- Emphasizes deficits and loss, with passive recipients of professional-led care.
- Dominant from the 1960s onward, especially with increased medicalization and pharmacological treatments.
The Social Model of Disability
- Attributes disability to environmental, cultural, and societal barriers rather than individual deficits.
- Focuses on removing physical, attitudinal, and institutional obstacles to inclusion.
- Developed by disability activists, especially from deaf and physically impaired communities.
- Criticized for underemphasizing the real impact of impairments themselves.
The Human Rights Model of Disability
- Emphasizes equal participation, autonomy, and support as fundamental rights.
- Recognizes both social barriers and inherent impairments needing support.
- Developed in the late 1990s-2000s and reflected in international agreements like the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- Centers people with disabilities as experts and active participants in all decisions affecting them.
- Requires governments to implement, monitor, and report on rights-advancing policies.
Comparison: Social vs. Human Rights Models
- Human rights model embraces impairment and individual differences; social model focuses mainly on external barriers.
- Human rights model centers disabled people's voices in all decisions; social model focuses on identifying barriers.
- Human rights model advocates for equity (not sameness); acknowledges unequal starting points in society.
- Human rights model places legal accountability on governments; social model lacks enforcement mechanisms.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Charity Model — Disability seen as personal tragedy requiring care and pity.
- Medical Model — Disability as an individual deficit to be fixed by professionals.
- Social Model — Disability results from external barriers in society and environment.
- Human Rights Model — Disability is a rights issue; requires both barrier removal and support for impairments.
- Impairment — A physical or mental difference that may require support, recognized fully in the human rights model.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- Read about the Disability Standards for Education (2005).
- Reflect on how current policies align with the human rights model.