The Medical Model of Disabled People - Essay Example

? Medical Model of Disability Introduction Disability is defined as an impairment that limits a person’s physical or mental condition. The medical model of disabled people views disability as an individual problem. This approach is based on the belief that being disabled is negative, resides in the individual and the remedy for disability is normalization of the individual suggesting a form of second class citizenship because of a defective body or mind (University of Leicester, 2009). Therefore, this essay will examine the origins of the medical model of disabled persons up to contemporary times and explain how and why inequality and exclusion of disabled people has continued through time and still exists today. The medical model of disabled people evolved from the religious model of disability. The religious model of disability was described according to the Biblical perspectives. Disabled people were viewed as sinners according to this model (Sandahl & Auslander, 2005). The religious model embraced the aspects of sin, impurity, weakness, undesirability and sanctity as a cause of disability. The lame, crippled, dumb, mad, idiots and deaf were classified as people with disabilities. During this pre-industrial times, people with such disabilities lived with their families. In some instances, the disabled people were threatened because other people perceived them as monsters and unworthy of being human. Most people became homeless and displaced due to shame and poverty they were experiencing as a result of being neglected in the society (Drake, 1999). Religious leaders in the society responded to disabled people in various ways. They used ways such as rituals as a way of cleansing the disabled of their sins. As the years advanced, the medical model of disabled persons came up to challenge the rationality behind the religious model of disability. The medical model of disabled people views disability as resulting from a person’s mental and physical impairments that has no link with the social group in the society. This model is sometimes called functional-limitation or biological inferiority model (Michigan Disability Rights Coalition). The World Health Organization classifies the medical model of disabled persons in three different parts. Impairment, disability and handicap are the distinct parts classifications of the medical model according to the World Health Organization. Impairment is defined as any form of abnormality or loss of a person’s anatomical structure. On the other hand, disability refers to the general lack of ability or restriction. This means it is the inability of disabled persons to perform activities that normal human beings are capable of doing. This disability is as a result of an individual’s impairments. Finally, handicap is any disadvantage a disabled person is entitled to. This condition normally arises from the combination of impairment and disability. It prevents an individual to fulfil a normal role (Brown et al, 2006). From these classifications, stigmatization can develop among the disabled persons leading to inequality and their exclusion in the society (Nielsen, 2012). The medical model of disabled people considers the emergence of the problem within one impaired person (University of Leicester, 2009). This model asserts that solutions to the person’s problems are solved by focussing on the person. A more advanced version of the medical model of disabled people considers other factors such as economic factors. This means that a disabled person’s work opportunities are determined by the economic climate of the government. Further, this model seeks to provide a solution to within the person by overcoming impairments hence increasing an individual’s chance of work. In essence, the medical model of disabled people assumes finding a cure is the first step way to solve an individual’s problem. This view cannot be applied considering the fact that disability can improved through treatment. Therefore, the medical view of disability is that it is incurable and an abnormality. This also contributes to this model being considered as an exclusion of disabled people and promotion of inequality as well. Moreover, the medical model of disabled people regarded the people with disabilities as belonging to the sick role. It makes the assumptions that sick people should be excused from the normal roles and obligations in the society. They should be excluded from going to school, searching for jobs or taking part in family responsibilities. The disabled people are also expected to get medical treatment from disability professionals in order to recover (Michigan Disability Rights Coalition). Although the medical model of disabled persons offers medical treatment of disabilities as a cure, it is not realistic according to the view of disabled people. Firstly, most disabled people will reject their condition as being abnormal. Additionally, the model considers a paternalistic approach to solving an individual’s problem which concentrates on the care of disabled persons hence providing justification for institutionalization and segregation. According to Swain et al (2006), this model embraces the anti-positivist approach meaning that disabled people are marginalized groups and excluded from communal activities. The disabled people are also incapable of making sound decisions according to the medical model of disabled people. Therefore, this model perpetuates exclusion and inequality since it restricts disabled people’s chances to develop their potential and effectively have a control of their own lives. As found by Clapton & Fitzgerald (2008), the medical model of disabled people uses different interventions in order to provide the disabled persons with the necessary skills to deal with their problems. Therefore, disability is defined as an objective attribute of an afflicted person. According to the medical model of disabled persons, other people view disabled individuals as failures since they cannot control their bodies. Focus has shifted from public institutions to community-based facilities since the influence of normalization principles. However, medical perspective model still exists in the economy. Moreover, the lack of access to material resources views people with disabilities as in need of help and dependent. During the era of medical model, the lives of people with disabilities were defined by medication they received (Kraus, 2008). People with disability were viewed as unproductive and incapable of perform activities within the community. From the above analysis, the medical model of disabled persons has perpetuated inequality and exclusion of disabled people in the society. From the genesis of the social model around mid nineteen seventies, the medical model of disabled people must have existed before this year. According to Shakespeare & Watson (2002), physical impairment and disability are two different entities. In their views, physical impairment is defined as the absence of part of a limb and having a defective part of the body whereas disability refers to the ignorance of people with physical impairments in the society by restricting their activities. Additionally, the disabled are not included from participation of societal activities. This means the disabled are treated as a minority group in the society due to their physical impairment and the society is responsible for disabling physically impaired people (Rusch & Pfeiffer, 2003). Therefore, the medical model of disabled people can be viewed as responsible for creating inequality and exclusion of disabled people in the society. According to Llewellyn & Hogan (2000), medical model of disabled people views all types of disability are caused by certain types of impairments. In their views, disability is caused by physiological impairment due physical damage or as a result of diseases. Furthermore, disabled people need to get treatment only from medical practitioners or professionals. These views elicit various decisions from the medical model of the disabled. To begin with, the model creates a distinct relationship the medical professionals and the disabled people in the society. According to this model, there is a passive relationship that exists between the disabled and the professionals. Hence, the disabled people expected to be submissive and comply with the professionals’ medications (Barnes et al, 2002). The professionals operate within their own principles meaning they have the power to give medications as they wish since the medical professionals posses a high level of education. This perception creates unequal relationship and passivity in addition to the physical and mental disabilities of disabled people. From the above professional perception, the medical model of the disabled can be considered to have perpetuated the exclusion and inequality of the disabled people in the society. According to Stapleton et al (2005), the medical model view of disability has greatly contributed to their poverty and economic exclusion in the government. According to the American Community Survey conducted in the year two thousand and three, the employment rate of people with disabilities were about half of those without disabilities. This meant that the poverty rates for people with disabilities were more than twice as high as those without disabilities. Economic exclusion for people with disabilities is not due to the decline in public expenditures but because of the unequal treatment the disabled people have been accorded in the society (Borsay, 2005). The people with disabilities have been unable to receive support programs such as Social Security Income since they have been viewed as unable to work. Moreover, from the medical view of social disability, today’s support policies have greatly contributed to the creation of poverty among the disable people. The current income policies are based on the medical view of disability that asserts the disabled people cannot work and should therefore get support from others. The major component of poverty trap arises from the application of disability benefits where the disabled people must prove that they cannot work. Poor coordination of support systems for people with disabilities has also been a significant component of poverty trap. The support systems available for people with disabilities have been complex since they are administered by variety of private organizations and state agencies. This means the medical perspective of people with disabilities still applies in such organizations hence contributing to inequality and exclusion (Barnes, 2007). It is also important to understand the social model of disabled persons since it is an improvement of the medical model of disabilities. The social model was developed around nineteen seventies by the Union of the Physically Impaired against Segregation (UPIAS) according to Shakespeare & Watson (2002). This model has become an issue of concern in disability politics. It has been used by the disabled people’s movement to determine organizational laws that are either progressive or not. The social model of disabled people distinguishes between the oppressions and the impairments disabled people have. It defines disability as a form of social oppression (Claire, 2002). The social model of disability enabled the identification of strategies politically known as barrier removal. This aimed at including people with impairments in the society by prioritizing the needs of these individuals. It also focussed on pursuing social change rather than medical cure or rehabilitating the disabled people in the society. On a larger perspective, this model advocated for indiscrimination of persons with disabilities (Equality Act 2010). The main impact of this model was how it benefited the disabled individuals themselves. The improvement from medical to social model of disabled persons made the disabled understand that the problem was the society (Barnes & Mercer, 2010). Therefore, the disabled persons did not need to change the society or pity themselves; instead, it is the society that needed to change. The disabled became empowered and began working for equal citizenship with the emergence of feminist consciousness. This model promoted individual interaction within the society. The medical model of disabled people was an improvement of the religious model of disability. The religious model was very discriminative and based its principles on outdated Biblical references. Generally, the medical model of disabled people considers the individual with the disability as the problem. The medical model of disabled people claims that the diagnosis of a disability is done by a professional who is also responsible for defining the individual’s problem. Disability is perceived as negative within the society since it lives within a disabled person. Additionally, people with disability problems can only be treated by professionals. On the other hand, development of social model of disabled people created a difference in the perception of people with disabilities. The social model views disability as a problem of the society as a whole and not an individual problem. According to this model, disabled people can get treatment when people in the society freely interact with one another. Moreover, treatment of a disabled individual can be done by medical professionals, the disabled person or any other person in the society. Therefore, from the above analysis of the disability models, the medical model of disabled people has greatly contributed to perpetuation of inequality and exclusion of disabled people in the society. References Barnes, C. (2007). Disability, higher education and the inclusive society. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28(1), 135-145. Barnes, C., & Mercer, G. (2010). Exploring Disability. Cambridge: Polity. Barnes, C., Oliver, M., & Barton L. (2002). Disability Studies Today. Hoboken: Wiley. Borsay, A. (2005). Disability and Social Policy in Britain Since 1750: A History of Exclusion. London: Palgrave Macmillan Brown, S.P., Miller, W.C., & Eason, J.M. (2006). 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Retrieved from http://www.copower.org/models-of-disability/181-medical-model-of-disability.html. Nielsen, K.E. (2012). A Disability History of the United States. Boston: Beacon Press. Rusch, F.R & Pfeiffer, D. (2003). Rethinking Disability: The Emergence of New Definitions, Concepts and Communities.Leonberg: Garant. Sandahl, C., & Auslander, P. (2005). Bodies in Commotion: Disability and Performance. Michigan: University of Michigan Press Shakespeare, T., & Watson, N. (2002). Research in Social Science and Disability. the social model of disability: an outdated ideology? 2, 9-28. Stapleton, D.C., O’Day, B., Livermore, G.A., & Imparto, A.J. (2005). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=edicollect Swain, J., French, S., Barnes, C., & Thomas, C. (2013). Disabling Barriers- Enabling Environments. California: SAGE Publications. University of Leicester. (2009). The Social and medical model of disability. Retrieved from http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/accessability/staff/accessabilitytutors/information-for-accessability-tutors/the-social-and-medical-model-of-disability World Health Organization. Disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/topics/disabilities/en/ Read More