The Medical Model vs. The Social Model of Disability  

By Marina Fishman

George E. P. Box once said, “all models are wrong, but some are useful.” This has now become a saying in the academic community, and it can be applied to the debate between the medical model and the social model of disability. For centuries, disability has been viewed through a variety of lenses. More recently, the medical and social models have become widely accepted, and yet they are vastly different. My life just so happens to be an example of the difference between these two models and how they can coexist peacefully. 

I like to say that I mutated in the womb. To put it rather simply, I was born with fairly messed-up feet. According to my doctor, I have the worst possible flat feet a human can have, my Achilles tendons are too short, and my ankle bones grew in the wrong places. All of this means that since I learned to walk, I’ve had to deal with severe chronic pain. This disabled me in more ways than one. I was often picked on because I tended to walk like a penguin, I never really played sports as a kid because it was too painful, and I tended to feel on the outside of most fun, heavy-walking activities like going to Disney World, going to the park, or even just hanging out / walking around at the mall. Because of all of this, I know from personal experience what it’s like to be disabled by real pain. It can obviously be very limiting, but more importantly, the pain in and of itself is torture. 

1 The medical model defines disability as a consequence of a health condition, disease, or caused by trauma. It also disrupts the functioning of a person in a physiological or cognitive way.

I was also diagnosed with autism when I was 15 years old. This is actually quite unusual. Most people are diagnosed as autistic relatively early in their childhood. It is a little rare to be diagnosed so late. Because of this, I was raised to fit into the status quo and push down my present, but not yet diagnosed, symptoms. Whether for good or bad, I am now considered relatively high functioning. That being said, I still exhibit several autistic characteristics than can inhibit my day-to-day life. I have spent my life conforming to the “norm,” but ultimately this is an impossible goal. For example, I am surrounded by loud noises as the go-to way to alert the public. For most people, a fire alarm appropriately makes them aware that they need to leave a building. For me, my first instinct when I hear a fire alarm is to shut down and curl into a ball. As another example, most restaurants have menus that are not easy to navigate if you are an extremely picky eater. If I want to make a lot of changes to an item, I usually look really rude and eccentric. Often, waiters will still get my special requests wrong which only leads to me looking even more rude and eccentric. Having autism, or being neuroatypical in any way, is not really commonplace in today’s society. There is a lot of stigma, and I know from personal experience the deep desire to tear down those metaphorical walls around me. 

2 he social model of disability views society as the fault of impairment. It outlines barriers caused by an inaccessible environment, attitudes (including prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination), and certain inflexible organizations

(Photo description: The social model of disability views society as the fault of impairment. It outlines barriers caused by an inaccessible environment, attitudes (including prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination), and certain inflexible organizations.)  

Through my life story, one can see examples of both the medical model and the social model of disability. For clarity, “in the medical model a disability is seen as a disease and need of [a] cure,” (Beginning with Disability, pg. 8). I strongly relate to this as I did have to get several surgeries to help correct my feet. I didn’t get the surgeries to help me fit in more, I got them to help relieve the pain. I completely understand the need to “fix” something about yourself. This idea is often criticized because it can be a difficult line to walk between “all disabilities need to be cured and bred out” and “someone needs a procedure to alleviate pain.” From the outside, I can see how some people can view this as a slippery slope, but everyone must remember that people with disabilities are not objects. They are very real people often with very real pain. Sometimes, surgery for someone is just as simple as self-care. The social model of disability states that “… there is a distinction to be made between being impaired and being disabled. … In the social model, the impairment becomes a disability when the environment is not accessible,” (Beginning with Disability, pgs. 6-7). I strongly relate to this narrative as well. If there weren’t as many stigmas or myths surrounding autism, my life would probably be a lot easier. If the world started to celebrate neurodiversity rather than shun it, so many people wouldn’t have to live in shame and with the immense pressure to conform. And if this pressure was alleviated, there is no telling what we all could do. That being said, this model fails to take into account the real pain that many people with disabilities can face. Physical pain is not a social construct, and the social model of disability completely disregards it in a way that can be seen as gaslighting to a lot of people. 

3 Everyone's brain is unique and works a little differently. According to the neurodiversity paradigm, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Society can benefit from the strengths and accommodate the weaknesses of each person

Ultimately, my life can show you how both models can be true to many different people, and sometimes even within the same person. In my opinion, disability is a personal experience. While thinking models can help outsiders understand the disability community better, they shouldn’t be seen as the law. People with disabilities should be free to identify however they see fit without being forced into any particular genre. That being said, this doesn’t mean that the non-disabled community should just give up on understanding. This means that those who are not disabled yet should probably spend more time listening rather than searching for an impossible right answer to the question of how to view disability. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Citations: 

  1. “Medical Model VS Social Model.” NeuroDiverCity, 2017, https://www.neurodivercitysg.com/medical-model-vs-social-model.html.   
  1. “1.1 Compare and Contrast Different Models of Disability.” Including People with Disabilities: Public Health Workforce Competencies, 15 June 2016, https://disabilityinpublichealth.org/1-1/.  
  1. MissLunaRose12. “File:Neurodiversity Crowd 2.Png.” Wikimedia Commons, 5 Aug. 2019, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neurodiversity_Crowd_2.png.   
  1. Davis, Lennard J. “Introduction.” Beginning with Disability: A Primer, Routledge, New York City, NY, 2018.