Research School Network: What Educators Need to Know about the Social Model of Disability From medical model to social model

Our big journey as a trust is to ensure EDI is at the forefront of everything we do, and ensure we are role models that demonstrate to our students how we create an inclusive environment where everyone feels safe. Part of this involves both us and our students understanding different perspectives in relation to equality, so that they have the tools to develop true inclusion in their future. One perspective which is vital to this is the social model of disability.

The Social Model vs the Medical Model

The Social Model of Disability was developed during the 1970’s, by disabled activists who wanted to change society’s narrative and perspectives around disability. Prior to this point, most perspectives and policies around disability either featured the Medical Model of Disability or the Charity Model of Disability, both of which lead to a negative stereotype of disability. 

During much of the 1800s and early 1900’s, disabled people often found themselves segregated from society, hidden away or isolated in poverty. At the start of the 20^th Century, eugenics became popular in much of Western Society and began to perpetuate these stereotypes further. The viewpoints around eugenics led to a perception of disabled people being a cost, a threat to society and a problem to be solved, views expressed even by key politicians at the time. The amplification of this during the Holocaust and Aktion T4, led to the social movement of disabled rights during the 1960’s seeking to change these perspectives of disability and eradicate negative stereotyping.

Each model considers disability through a different lens. The Medical Model of Disability focuses on individual’s disability or condition as being the barrier to accessing society and employment. It treats disability as being a disadvantage or a problem with the individual. It pervades a negative perception of disability, which is disempowering for the individual, reduces the relevance of disabled people in society and can lead to negative stereotypes of disabled or neurodivergent individuals. The charity model of disability focuses on disabled people as people to be pitied or treated as victims, which has also contributed to the negative views of disabled people in society, as well as removing independence from disabled people. The language used in both of these models is often problematic and can create an ableist view of disability.*

Removing negative bias

The Social Model of Disability seeks to provide a more equal perspective of disability and remove negative bias and stereotyping of disabled people in society. Its principles are based on the perspective that society has created the barriers that disabled people face rather than the disability, condition or individual. This perspective moves the responsibility onto society, employers and educators to remove the barriers to access for disabled people. 

For example, if a student who uses a wheelchair cannot enter the classroom because the doorway is too narrow, the medical model would identify that the barrier is the student and their wheelchair, which often leads the student to feel like they are unwelcome, isolated or a problem needing to be fixed. This also can lead to the student then failing to meet their potential through education and excludes them from their peers. This is dangerous because it can lead to becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure and exclusion. Conversely, the social model of disability would consider the barrier to the student to be the built environment, the narrowness of the doorway, taking away that negative perception or stereotype from that student. This can be extraordinarily empowering for individuals and seeks to remove unconscious bias.

You may be wondering what this has to do with our daily role as a teacher. The importance of these perspectives to us as educators is multi-faceted. We have a huge responsibility in shaping future society, and we spend a good proportion of our time ensuring that our students are able to function in society successfully. We also need to ensure that every student in our classroom succeeds regardless of their needs. Disabled people make up approximately 20% of the working age population which correlates with the almost 18% of students with UK schools that have been identified as SEND, approximately a fifth of the students we will teach over our lifetime. In 21/22 the UK government identified that only 22.5% of SEND students achieved a 5 or above nationally compared to 55.8% of Non-SEND students. No one ever goes into education with the intention of disempowering others, but there are steps we can all take as educators to ensure that we avoid the impact of stereotypes and stigma, and support students with creating an environment where no one feels socially or academically segregated.

Changing Language

A key area where educators can use the power of the social model to transform the lives of all students, is the language we use around disability. There is the temptation for disabled individuals such as Paralympians to be held up as ​‘extra-ordinary’, used as a tick-box exercise and described as successful ​‘despite’ their disability along with the use of deficit-based language such as ​‘wheelchair bound’. Language such as this, can be interpreted as disability being a ​‘disadvantage’, or the assumption that disability limits the individual’s potential and that successful disabled people are not the norm, creating a cycle where students often give up because they feel the world is stacked against them, or the teacher reduces their expectations of those who are SEND. 

There is also a danger in phrases such as ​‘He can’t access the work due to being autistic’ or ​‘they don’t follow instructions because they have ADHD’, whereas the social model would reflect that back on to the educator to take responsibility for ensuring that they have removed all barriers to access from their teaching, such as ​‘He can’t access the work, because I haven’t framed the instructions in a way that he can access them’ or ​‘They can’t follow my instructions because I haven’t given them in the way that they can interpret them’. This helps us to be more inclusive and more reflective practitioners. It can seem an obvious or nuanced change to our thinking in theory. But in practice, it can really help us build relationships and success for all our students.

Another powerful tool is to make adjustments and adaptations to your classroom seamless, consistent and a holistic part of your teaching. Many adaptations can benefit every student in your classroom not just your SEND Students, such as dual coding or chunking instructions, so making these part of your everyday teaching rather than something you do just when you have SEND students in your class can improve outcomes for all students. Working towards a classroom which is always inclusive, where students don’t feel uncomfortable because they have particular requirements, establishes acceptance in society and reduces social and educational exclusion for every student.

*Ableism is defined as the discrimination or social prejudice towards disabled and neurodivergent people based on the assumption that typical abilities are superior to those of disabled people or the preference for non-disabled people over disabled people.

(A note about person first or identity first language. Some policies will refer to a particular format, but generally it’s best to ask the person you are referring to what they prefer. I have used ​‘disabled people/​person’ as for me I am proud to be part of the disabled community, however other people may have different views so always better to ask.)