Viewing Your Child, And Their Disability, Differently.
As a parent of a child with a disability, you may have encountered different ways of understanding disability. Even in conversation with friends and medical staff, they have their own individual ways of talking about and understanding disability. Some might refer to it as a super power, while others may view it almost like a life sentence. Both of these views can be damaging, harming self-esteem or ignoring the real difficulties that people with a disability face.
Two Primary Models for Understanding Disability
Broadly, there are two main ways of understanding disability, we call these “models”. Traditionally, the medical model of disability has been dominant, focusing on impairments and medical interventions to understand and manage disabilities. However, the social model of disability offers a different and empowering perspective—one that highlights the personal strengths of someone with a disability, whilst also acknowledging that society creates barriers for individuals that we as a whole community can try and remove. Understanding this model can help parents advocate for their children and promote a more inclusive world.
Clarifying these Models with a Real-Life Experience
To better understand the social model, let’s have a look at an example that perhaps you have experienced. When we are in our home country and speaking our first language, we are usually able to communicate effectively, and do such things as go to the movies, shop and easily chat with others. However, when we are on holiday in a country where everyone is speaking a language that we don’t, these tasks can become tricky, especially when we need to read something or get some extra help. Although we could put in lots of effort and learn a new language, it’s nice (and a huge relief) when there is a way to communicate in our first language. It is good when we accommodate others (by changing and developing skills) but it certainly is easier when the environment or society that we are in accommodates us too.
What is the Social Model of Disability?
The social model of disability argues that it is not a child’s condition or impairment that disables them, but rather society and its barriers. These barriers can be physical, such as inaccessible buildings, or attitudinal, like negative stereotypes and low expectations.
For example, if a child who uses a wheelchair cannot attend a playground because it lacks ramps, the issue is not their inability to walk—it is the lack of accessible design. If a child with a learning disability is excluded from mainstream education due to inadequate support, the problem is not the student’s delay, it’s the education system’s failure to provide necessary accommodations.
How This Model Helps Parents and Children
Embracing the social model can empower parents to:
- Advocate for accessibility and inclusion in schools, playgrounds, and community spaces.
- Challenge societal attitudes that limit their child’s opportunities.
- Encourage self-acceptance and confidence in their child by shifting the focus; instead of just ‘fixing’ impairments, we also need to remove external barriers.
- Work with educators, policymakers, and organizations to create more inclusive environments.
Practical Steps for Parents
Here are some ways parents can apply the social model in daily life:
- Ensure accessibility in education by advocating for Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and inclusive teaching practices.
- Encourage inclusive play by seeking out or pushing for accessible playgrounds and activities in your wider community spaces.
- Challenge discrimination by educating others about the social model and encouraging positive representation of disability in media and schools.
- Connect with disability advocacy groups to gain support and share resources. Work with other parents and people in your community to advocate for all with disability in schools, local communities and government.
A Balanced Perspective
While the social model is transformative, it is important to acknowledge that impairments often have real physical and emotional effects. As much as we advocate to remove stigma in our families and immediate social circles, it is still present in the wider world and can have a very negative impact. To help keep this in mind, it’s important to be realistic, rather than overly positive or negative. The goal is not to ignore medical needs but to shift the focus toward creating an inclusive society that supports every child’s potential.
Moving Toward an Inclusive Future
By embracing the social model of disability, parents can become powerful advocates for their children, and hopefully they in turn will eventually advocate for themselves too. Recognizing that barriers exist within society rather than within their child, helps shift the conversation from limitations to possibilities. Within therapies that use the medical model, there is often a focus on how we can adjust the child’s behaviour to suit the world around them, and at times the conversations around what we can change for the child are lost. The impacts of negative stigma are well documented, and addressing these concerns may assist to reduce mental health impacts and low self-esteem. Together, we can work toward a future where children with disabilities are valued, supported, and fully included in all aspects of life.
This blog was inspired by a chapter in the book: Unmasking Autism: The Power of Embracing Diversity by Dr Devon Price.
Barnes, C. (2019). Understanding the social model of disability: Past, present and future. In Routledge handbook of disability studies (pp. 14-31). Routledge.
Shakespeare, T. (2006). The social model of disability. The disability studies reader, 2(3), 197-204.
Oliver, M. (2013). The social model of disability: Thirty years on. Disability & society, 28(7), 1024-1026.
Written by Mr Michael Perry – Registered Psychologist.
Image sourced from Freep!k.
If you’d like to find out more about One Central Health, give us a call today on (08) 9344 1318.
