Review article

Disability in the Context of a Social Model

Vesna Mihanović ; Ministarstvo zdravstva i socijalne skrbi Republike Hrvatske

Abstract

An important step further in the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities was made by converting the medical model into a social one, under the influence of welfare society, which appeared in the developed countries in the mid-twentieth century. The medical model, which was predominant during the 1980s, focused on the impairment rather than on the person. In such a society, persons with disabilities are considered to be a problem. Today, generally accepted is the social model which emphasises the relation of society toward persons with disabilities as the crucial problem. It puts an individual in the centre of decision-making, while making decisions which are relevant for him/her and, which is not less important, places the problem outside the person, into society. The basic idea of the model is that any defect that objectively exists should not be denied but the defect does not reduce the value of the person as a human being. What excludes the persons with disabilities from society are ignorance, prejudice and fears dominating that society. Therefore, the social model emphasises the rights of an individual and strives for a restructuring of society. With appearance of the social model of disability and the model of human rights, important changes have taken place in the relation of society toward persons with disabilities. On the basis of the ‘social model of disability’, inclusive research has been initiated, as a response not only to exclusion of persons with disabilities from the process of research but also as a necessary reaction in the sense of pressure of persons with disabilities and denial of their rights. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) has also been
adopted in the light of the social model. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was required because persons with disabilities have long been considered to be ‘objects’ of care or medical treatment rather than ‘right holders’. A decision to add the instruments of universal human rights, specific for persons with disabilities, arose from the fact that in practice, in spite of their theoretical acquisition of all human rights, persons with disabilities still do not have basic rights and basic freedoms pertaining to most people.

Keywords

medical model; social model; human rights model; inclusive research; International Classification of Functioning (ICF); UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Hrčak ID:

63444

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/63444

Publication date:

23.1.2011.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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