everyone. Uh, this is going to be a short video on models of disability for EDGS 951. So, what I'm going to talk about in this video is I I'm going to go over a few different models of disability. Models of disability are essentially different ways of viewing disability which directly influence how support is provided for people with disability. Um models also shape the history of services, education, uh the terminology used to refer and to support people with disability. Um although there are a number of different models of disability, uh sort of four models dominate across history and those are going to be the four that I'm going to focus on in this video. Uh the first model is the charity model of disability. Uh then we have the medical model of disability and then the social model of disability and then finally we'll look at the human rights model of disability. And I'll try and draw some similarities and differences across the models for you to help better understand uh the models and how they're used and how they shape people's views um and uh treatment and support of people with disability. So we'll start with the cherry model of disability. Um so this is sort of the traditional model of disability. Uh it's driven by an emotional appeal to charity. uh it sees people with disability oftentimes as helpless victims or sufferers in need of care and protection. Um disability is typically seen as a deficit under this model and people with disability are often seen as incapable of being independent or taking care of themselves. Um so this leads to services focusing on caring for those who can't help themselves or those who are considered to be suffering due to their disability. Um you can see in the graphic here uh oftentimes this uh revolves around people having assumptions or ideas that people with disability is something unfortunate um dependent or helpless um that they need pity and charity um that they could be a burden or that they'll need welfare and support the rest of their lives. Um and that they cannot really contribute to uh society or support themselves. Um and this again sort of leads to the idea that they require special schools and programs. uh rather than uh mainstream integration and development. Um importantly, this is sort of the traditional model of uh disability as it was the dominant model until at least the 1960s and the 1970s uh when we had a variety of different civil rights movements. Um nevertheless, uh this model is still used to build sympathy for people with disabilities such as in cases around fundraising. uh it often also still dominates the media uh where people with disability are often presented uh in a light that invokes sympathy or or charity. Um people uh under this model, people with disability are often silent or even silenced uh and they're not seen as capable of self- advocacy. Um and as I said this model was kind of replaced and supplement uh supplanted around uh the 1960s and 70s uh primarily by the medical model of disability. Uh so the medical model of dis disability locates the problem of disability within the individual. Uh it sees the causes of problems that people with disability face as arising from the functional or psychological limitations and impairments and the losses that are assumed to stem from the individual's disability. Uh the model itself emphasizes fixing perceived deficits located within the individual. Uh and it sees disability as a loss or something to be grieved that makes the individual less capable or less than others. Um as I said this has been the dominant model since the 1960s onwards. less so due to any impact or influence by um the civil rights movements of those eras um but much more so due to uh the rise of medical interventions around disability. Um especially when it comes to things like neurodiversity uh or psychological uh disabilities. Um there's a heavy focus and shift around this time uh to try and uh medicate or uh pharmacologically treat individuals with disability. Uh and this sort of led to a way of looking at disability through a medical lens. Um as I said this is sort of the dominant model uh from the 1960s onwards across a variety of institutions and settings. Um we can see again here uh on the right in the graphic help uh different ways of understanding the medical model of of disability where the idea is that the problem uh is with the disabled person themselves uh and it's really looking at them in terms of their capabilities um in regards to some sort of normative uh functional standard. Um again sort of understanding disability through this models uh looks at actions stemming from the model often involves things like segregation uh or exclusion in order to obtain special treatment or therapy until the person with disability can attain sort of normal functioning standards. Um so again the idea being that need need to focus support uh on the individual in order to uh fix them. Uh again, under this model, people with disability are often passive recipients of support uh with limited voice in response to others directions and decisions regarding their support needs and how they'll receive that support uh or even what their support goals might be. Again, the assumption here is that others uh will know what they need uh best and oftentimes the assumption is is that uh medical professionals will will know uh what the individual with disability needs uh best. The next model of disability we'll look at is the social model of disability. Uh this model sees disability as a product of the environment, culture and attitudes of others. Uh so it focuses on all things that impose restrictions on disabled people ranging from uh things like individual prejudice to institutional discrimination from inaccessible public buildings to unusable transport systems from segregated education uh to excluding work arrangements and so on and so forth. Um the model itself was developed in the context of and by people with disability forming groups and representative bodies and campaigning for change. Uh so in this sense it grew out of the civil rights movement in the 60s and 70s. Uh and its development has been led uh primarily by the deaf community and individuals with physical impairments in the 1980s and the 1990s and since the 1990s and early 2000s. Um it also has been uh partially led by uh the neurot uh diversity community and movement as well. Um unlike the medical model, uh the focus here on the social model is the creation of supportive environments and resources. Uh it really tries to focus on eliminating barriers to inclusion and achievement for people with disabilities and part of that is uh putting the individuals with disabilities into a key role in identifying the environmental barriers that they encounter. Um again we can look at the graphic on the right here and we can see that the underlying idea of the social model of disability is that the problem is the disabling world itself. Um so the world that people with disabilities find themselves within. Um so it can be things like badly designed buildings that are inaccessible uh or uncomfortable. Um not having stairs uh or having stairs and not ramps or lifts. Uh segregation into special schools. um a lack of sign language interpreters, um different forms of discrimination people with disabilities might face, um being isolated within a family or a family itself being isolated from wider society, uh or having even poor employment prospects. Um and the focus again on the social model of disability is to try and identify and rectify those environmental barriers that create problems for people with disability. Um with that said uh the model has been criticized in a number of ways uh by different uh theorists and academics and social activists uh for having a limited focus or recogn recognition of the in uh innate impairment uh people with disability have. Um so kind of overfocusing uh on the social environment and not actually looking at the individuals uh to uh a needed extent and for partially for this reason uh we then have the development of the human rights model of disability. Uh so this model is like the social model but it focuses on ensuring the right of equal opportunities and participation in society for people with disability. Um on this model, disability is a factor that prevents individuals from participating fully in society and achieving their personal goals. Um it comes from the position that support is not about humanity or charity, but is a basic human right. It sees inclusion and equality of opportunity and participation as a human right. And it focuses on eliminating barriers to the fulfillment of rights. uh it recognizes that individuals uh may have innate impairments that do require support as well as the creation of supportive environments and resources. And that's sort of where it differs a bit around the social model of disability is that really does recognize that individuals might have innate conditions or impairments that actually do create problems uh and difficulty for them in their lives. uh regardless of sort of uh the social realm within which they're situated. Uh so in this sense uh the model focuses on creating supportive society including policies, attitudes, uh services and on eliminating barriers that prevent people with disability from realizing their rights. It was developed uh in the late 90s and early 2000s and is reflected in the Salman Maka statement and the UN declaration of human rights of persons with disabilities uh which we'll look at more in this subject. Uh the individual's voice and choice is at the center of services and supports on the human rights model of disability. And again you can see on the graphic on the right here um again the problem is uh with the disabling society in the sense that uh often the most significant problems that people with disability face come from things like denial of basic human rights or discriminatory laws, exclusion from social activities. um limited uh participation in decision-m limited access to adequate health services and education, limited employment opportunities and access and uh limited or no opportunities for self-determination. Importantly, I think it's worth taking a little bit of time to sort of differentiate and distinguish the human rights model and the social model of disability. um both were developed by uh activists uh within the disability communities uh and both uh do want to uh make the world a better place for people with disability. Um nevertheless uh it's important to sort of understand their their core differences and four of the differences we'll briefly look at here is that the human rights model embraces impairment. Uh the human rights model recognizes people with disability as experts in all matters that affect them. Equality does not mean treating everyone the same and the human rights model places accountability on governments to take action. Um all of which uh are a little bit different from the social model. Um so the human rights model uh this idea that embraces impairment is that it acknowledges the impact of impairment in the lives of people with disability. It recognizes impairment as a natural aspect of human dis diversity that governments have a responsibility to support. Um so in that sense it establishes the right of people with disability to live independently and to be included in the community and it acknowledges that the goal of enabling people with disability to live independently and be included it's about far more than simply removing mainstream barriers um but actually supporting those individuals. Um so this is a little bit different and unlike the social model which does not acknowledge the very real impact of impairment in the lives of people with disability such as chronic pain or shorter life expectancy or even higher rates of uh incidences with the criminal justice system. It also has a tendency to treat all impairments as the same. Uh which the human right model really tries to focus on individualized understanding and support for uh people with disability recognizing that each person uh is a unique individual and may have unique strengths and needs. Um the social model also unlike the human rights model makes the assumption that people with disability who've been able to access the services will be able to access uh the services they need once the barriers in mainstream society have been removed. Um the human rights model I think focuses on the long-term understanding uh or the understanding that uh services and support is a long-term undertaking um that will constantly need to be adjusted to meet the rights and the needs of individuals and their unique situations. Uh the human rights model also recognizes people with disability as experts in all matters that affect them, not just in identifying barriers within the environment uh that pose or create problems for them. So while the social model recognizes society has a role to play in enabling access um and it recognizes that people with disability can help identify barriers within uh their society and their environment. It does not necessarily see the views of people with disability as essential for all aspects of their life. Uh it therefore fails to acknowledge that people with disability are experts in their own lives and regards to a variety of matters um important and essential to them. Uh the human rights model tries to address this flaw by placing a strong emphasis or focus on the active participation of people with disability by recognizing that people with disability are experts in their own lives and that people with disability are active stakeholders in all matters that affect them. Uh the third idea is that equality does not mean treating everyone the same. Uh while the social model is based on the principle of equal opportunity, uh it assumes that by treating all people in society the same, everyone will have access to the same opportunities uh has often been argued or has been argued by some that this is a flawed model because it assumes that everyone's society starts on a level playing field um which we know is not the case. Uh we know for example that people with disability in Australia face a heightened risk of violence or abuse. um they're far more likely to be unemployed or undermployed uh have lower levels of e educational attain attainment or achievement and are far less likely to participate in activities outside of the home. Um these all set the the playing field in an unlevel manner. Um so the human rights model tries to address these shortfalls by acknowledging the power imbalances that exist between different groups of people within society even amongst different people with uh within the disability community and by requiring governments to put measures into place to improve outcomes for all marginalized groups um including people with disability. And then finally, the last idea that sort of sets the human rights model and the social model apart is that the human rights model places accountability in governments to take action. Uh while the social model provides a framework for describing disability, it does not require governments to take any proactive steps to advance the rights of people with disability. Um the human rights model addresses this shortfall by explaining the steps that must be taken by governments to uphold, promote, and protect the rights of people with disability in each area of public life. uh it requires governments to report to the United Nation on the steps taken to advance the rights of people with disability every four years. Uh and it requires governments to actively consult with people with disability in development of all new policies, laws and programs that might actually affect them. Um so the human rights model tries to place more stringent measures on not only governments but other types of public and private institutions that people with disabilities are a part of. So, as I sort of said at the beginning of this video, uh the human rights model is the uh preferred approach in the 21st century. Um though it's not perhaps the most widespread approach. Um this model forms the basis of the disability standards for education. Uh that was set in 2005 and it is also the model that we use in this course and is the basis for the standards and practices of the developmental educators of Australia incorporated. Um it is what we will focus on as it really tries to ensure and enshrine the rights of people with disability uh to place them at the center of their decision making their supports um and uh their life outcomes. And while uh it could be argued that the NDIS and the disability discrimination act aim to reflect the human rights model of disability, um I think it's uh also arguable that they still utilize the medical model in terms of their terminology, their support allocation, and even some service delivery. Um so while the human rights model of disability may be enshrined in certain policies uh or acts or programs um it nevertheless isn't uh perhaps adopted uh entirely across uh those institutions. Um, and one of the things we need to think about is how that we can better improve uh those institutions to more fully uh embody and embrace a human rights model of disability. Uh, which we'll talk more about uh through this subject and and throughout the program.