Medical Social Model

1086 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social and medical models of disability

Write a short report (1000 words) on the Medical and Social Models of disability, explaining what they are and the importance of the two Models. Provide your own personal opinions and reflections on these Models. However, base your views on research. Demonstrate that you hae read extensively on the topic. You are welcome to use information that you have obtained from the Internet or from books but please write your report in your own words. In this assignment, I have been asked to write a report on the Medical and Social Models of disability, explain both models are and the importance of the two Models. “Medical model views a disability as a deficiency or abnormality and that being disabled is considered to be negative”. (newhealthguide.org …show more content…

Handicap: - A disadvantage for a given individual, resulting from an impairment or disability, that prevents the fulfilment of a role that is normal depending on age, sex, social and cultural factors for that individual. In this model, it is viewed that the person with a disability is the responsibility of medical professions and rehabilitation centres as opposed to society. Therefore, it is aimed to “cure” or for there to be an adjustment and behaviour change in the individual that would lead to an “almost cured” state. This model is also based on a belief that the difficulties which are experienced by a disabled person are solely their own and that they should make extra effort to ensure that they do not inconvenience society in general. Under the medical model, it looks at a disabled persons’ inability to join in society is looked at as a result of having an impairment as opposed to being a result of societies unwillingness to improve facilities for disabled people. People with disabilities are seen as weak and defective, who are incapable of leading “normal” life’s. Resulting from this, they can be excused from normal obligations in society and therefore isolated from …show more content…

The Employment Equality Act 1998, which deals with employment of people with disabilities and provision of accessible technologies to employees. The Equal Status Act 2000 + 2004, which is aimed at preventing decimation of all forms including disabilities. And the most recent legislation, The Disability Act 2005, identified areas such as Universal Design for buildings, public service employment, health and

Show More
Related

  • Eli Clare Stolen Bodies Summary

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    Clare provides different paradigms of disability in order to demonstrate the wide variety of views concerning disabilities. He states that the paradigms of disability "all turn disability into problems faced by individual people, locate those problems in our bodies, and define those bodies as wrong," (Clare, 2001, p. 360). The first paradigm model Clare explains is the medical model which defines disability as a disease or a condition that is treatable. Next, he explains that the charity model defines disability as a tragedy and the supercrip model defines disability as a tough challenge that individuals overcome; the supercrip model makes individuals with disabilities out to be superheroes. Lastly, Clare explains that the moral model defines disability as a weakness. In order to demonstrate the paradigms and how they overlap, Clare cleverly uses an array of popular examples. One significant example is Jerry Lewis' telethon. During this time, Jerry Lewis attempts to raise money in order to find a cure for a condition. Overall, his Labor Day telethon raises money to end a disability by finding a cure for the broken bodies. This telethon employs the medical model because it demonstrates disability as a condition that needs to be treated. In addition, the telethon employs the charity model because it shows disability as a misfortune. All four disability paradigms are known as the social model because they are the ideas that society has about certain bodies. When society creates these ideas about disabilities, they create unnatural

    Read More

  • Andre Dubus 'Why The Able-Bodied Still Don' T Get It

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 set out to end the discrimination people with disabilities encounter. The Act gave disabled people the right to employment, access to goods, facilities, and services and the right to buy and rent land and property. These rights came into force in December 1996, making treating a disabled person less favorably than an able-bodied person unlawful. Further rights came into force in October 1999, including the idea that service providers should consider making reasonable adjustments to the way they deliver their services so that people with a disability can use them. (The DDA...) However, despite these

    Read More

  • Dylan Alcott's Disability

    1496 Words  | 3 Pages

    Disability is a ‘complex issue’ (Alperstein, M., Atkins, S., Bately, K., Coetzee, D., Duncan, M., Ferguson, G., Geiger, M. Hewett, G., et al.., 2009: 239) which affects a large percentage of the world’s population. Due to it being complex, one can say that disability depends on one’s perspective (Alperstein et al., 2009: 239). In this essay, I will draw on Dylan Alcott’s disability and use his story to further explain the four models of disability being The Traditional Model, The Medical Model, The Social Model and The Integrated Model of Disability. Through this, I will reflect on my thoughts and feelings in response to Dylan’s story as well as to draw on this task and my new found knowledge of disability in aiding me to become

    Read More

  • The Socio-Medical Model

    202 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Socio-medical model focuses on social factors that have an effect on health and wellbeing and is concerned with the environmental causes of illnesses. For example, one of the causes for depression for the socio-medical model could be due to the individual’s experiences which may have left emotional trauma, causing the individual to become depressed.

    Read More

  • Service User Involvement and Participation

    2635 Words  | 6 Pages

    Shakespeare, T. (1993) Disabled people's self-organisation: a new social movement?, Disability, Handicap & Society, 8, pp. 249-264 .

    Read More

  • On Being A Cripple And A Plague Of Tics

    1139 Words  | 3 Pages

    The two essays “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs and “A Plague of Tics” by David Sedaris are excellent pieces of work that share many similarities. This paper would reflect on these similarities particularly in terms of the author, message and the targeted audience. On an everyday basis, people view those with disabilities in a different light and make them conscious at every step. This may be done without a conscious realisation but then it is probably human nature to observe and notice things that deviate from the normal in a society. In a way people are conditioned to look negatively at those individuals who are different in the conventional

    Read More

  • What Is The Medical Model In Relation To The Deaf Community

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Medical Model is one of the approaches used to understand people with disabilities, and is ‘concerned with the origin, degree, type of loss and the onset’ of a certain disability (Munoz-Baell &Ruiz, 2000; 54:40-44). This approach views a disability as something no human being wants and should be avoided at all costs if possible (Models-Deafness, 2005). The Medical Model aims to treat people with disabilities, but before treatment can take place they need to study the disabilities and conduct experiments. In some cases the tests and investigations conducted violate the subject’s (disabled person/people being studied) fundamental human rights (Chenoweth, 1995; 36). As stated in the Integrated National Disability Strategy (INDS) : Models of Disability (1997) the Medical Model is made up of establishments that cater to people with disabilities in terms of ‘providing treatment or alternatives’ to their impairment. Although they have good intentions (to assist the disabled) this models interventions result in disabled people being dependent on these institutions and the government.

    Read More

  • Medical and Social Models of Disability

    1847 Words  | 4 Pages

    It could be said that in modern industrial society, Disability is still widely regarded as tragic individual failing, in which its “victims” require care, sympathy and medical diagnosis. Whilst medical science has served to improve and enhance the quality of life for many it could be argued that it has also led to further segregation and separation of many individuals. This could be caused by its insistence on labelling one as “sick”, “abnormal” or “mental”. Consequently, what this act of labelling and diagnosing has done, is enforce the societal view that a disability is an abnormality that requires treatment and that any of its “victims” should do what is required to be able to function in society as an able bodied individual.

    Read More

  • The Biomedical Model And Social Model Of Health

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Essay question 1: Critically discuss the biomedical model and social model of health and how they relate to lay perspectives on health and illness.

    Read More

  • Essay On Social Construction Of Disability

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    Disability is defined as a long term condition that restricts an individual’s daily activities (Government of Western Australia Department of Communities, n.d.). A disability can be identified in numerous types which are physical, sensory neurological and psychiatric. Due to the assistance with appropriate aids and services, the restrictions experienced by individuals with a disability may be overcome. However, the ways society perceives disability may have a significant impact on individuals living with it and also families around them. Therefore, the aim of this essay is to reflect on the social construction of disability through examining the social model of disability and how it may impact on the lives of people living with disability.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Medical And Social Model Of Disability

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    Because of the ambiguity of the definition, there is a requirement to have the social model to help to provide the answers. As the social model illustrates how the social institutions, labels, and stereotypes impact the perceived abilities of a disabled person, it is shown that the definitions of what is “normal”, “good”, and “functional” all come from the current society in which the person lives. Additionally, as culture and these definitions change with time and new ideologies and technological advances, what defines a disabled person will also change with time. This is also true across cultures as there may be different requirements to be considered “functional” or in good health in other cultures. For instance, a man unable to walk may not be as hindered in his freedom of movement if he is only required to stay in a small local area, such as a village, in comparison to a large city. However, it is also important to point out that the social model requires the medical model as well because the social model fails to focus on the individual at a more micro level. A person may see others in a similar circumstance and react in a different

    Read More

  • Essay On The Medical Model Of Disability

    1563 Words  | 4 Pages

    The World Health Organisation, WHO, (1980) defines disability in the medical model as a physical or mental impairment that restricts participation in an activity that a ‘normal’ human being would partake, due to a lack of ability to perform the task . Michigan Disability Rights Coalition (n.d.) states that the medical model emphasizes that there is a problem regarding the abilities of the individual. They argue that the condition of the disabled persons is solely ‘medical’ and as a result the focus is to cure and provide treatment to disabled people (Michigan Disability Rights Coalition, 2014). In the medical model, issues of disability are dealt with according to defined government structures and policies and are seen as a separate issue from ordinary communal concerns (Emmet, 2005: 69). According to Enabling Teachers and Trainers to Improve the Accessibility of Adult Education (2008) people with disabilities largely disa...

    Read More

  • International Classification Of Functioning Disability

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    Disability is able to be categorized and coded utilizing the ICF-CY framework which develops a direct path towards identifying individuals with disability needs. In this case, I think it is important to document the possible circumstances of people with disabilities across the world as they take measures to encourage their social participants, ranging from rehabilitation methods to educational purposes. Essentially, public health is characterized towards both disabled and non-disabled individuals who incorporate surveys, census, and questionnaires to provide both a meaningful and complete depiction of healthcare needs that they desire. The ICF-CY identifies that environmental factors, such as physical, social, and attitudinal are common facilitators and barriers that hinder a disabled patient’s ability to fulfil their life as they wish by getting appropriate health and education services. Through these services, the development of both the ICF and the ICF-CY have proven to be significant improvements towards the characteristics of patients with disabilities because of the environments of which they live in.

    Read More

  • Discrimination Against People With Disabilities

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...eglected social issues in recent history (Barlow). People with disabilities often face societal barriers and disability evokes negative perceptions and discrimination in society. As a result of the stigma associated with disability, persons with disabilities are generally excluded from education, employment, and community life which deprives them of opportunities essential to their social development, health and well-being (Stefan). It is such barriers and discrimination that actually set people apart from society, in many cases making them a burden to the community. The ideas and concepts of equality and full participation for persons with disabilities have been developed very far on paper, but not in reality (Wallace). The government can make numerous laws against discrimination, but this does not change the way that people with disabilities are judged in society.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Becoming an Integrated Health Professional (IHP)

    1481 Words  | 3 Pages

    French, S. & Swain, J. 2008. Understanding Disability: A Guide for Health Professionals. Philadelphia: Churchilll Livingstone Elsevier: 4

    Read More

More about Medical Social Model

Open Document