The Social Model of Disability: Dichotomy between Impairment and Disability

Abstract

The rhetoric of the social model of disability is presented, and its basic claims are critiqued. Proponents of the social model use the distinction between impairment and disability to reduce disabilities to a single social dimension-social oppression. They downplay the role of biological and mental conditions in the lives of disabled people. Consequences of denying biological and mental realities involving disabilities are discussed. People will benefit most by recognizing both the biological and the social dimensions of disabilities.

The right to inclusive education: why is there so much opposition to its implementation?

“…33 See Anastasiou and Kauffman, 2013;Corker and French, 1999;Shakespeare, 2013;Tremain, 2005. Similarly, the CRPD recognises the existence of impairment but relates this impairment to those social and environmental barriers, and all its rights indeed hinge on their removal (Degener, 2016;Bartlett, 2012). The idea is to produce a shift in focus from the individual to the environment in order to address the disadvantages faced by people with impairments.…”

An autoethnographic exploration of disability discourses: transforming science education and research for students with learning disabilities

“…As such, any deficits within those activities (e.g., memory) might affect normal brain-based functioning and lead to brain-based disorders that negatively affect individuals' lives (Anastasiou & Kauffman, 2013). Through valid psychometric tests, students with LD can be diagnosed and areas of their cognitive difficultiesworking memory, verbal comprehension, processing, and attention-can be identified.…”

“…Various researchers and disability activists have also argued that the social model of disability is incomplete because it denies impairment (Anastasiou & Kauffman, 2013;Crow, 1996;Oliver, 2009). Impairment, as defined by the Disabled People's International, "is the functional limitation within the individual caused by physical, mental, or sensory impairment" (as cited in Oliver, 1998Oliver, , p. 1447.…”

“…Specifically, by underpinning disability within a sociological lens, the social model of disability neglects to take into account the within-individual attributes of the individual. The social model denies the biological selves of individuals with disabilities and claims that they do not form part of the disability (Anastasiou & Kauffman, 2013). Consequently, from a social model lens, the person with disabilities is viewed as an incomplete individual, who is "biologically naked and only subjected to social values and roles" (Anastasiou & Kauffman, 2013, p. 445).…”

Why Exceptionality Is More Important for Special Education than Exceptional Children

“…Equating disability with ethnic origin, gender, sexual preference, socioeconomic circumstance, or other forms of diversity that do not directly affect ability to perform a desired function could be considered an affront to reason and a disappointing moral choice (see Anastasiou & Kauffman, 2013;Kauffman & Badar, 2014a;Kauffman & Landrum, 2009;Wiley, 2015). Disability is assumed by some to be merely another form of diversity, like diversity of color or religion or place of origin, but some special educators consider such an assumption misguided (Anastasiou et al, 2014).…”