Challenging Disability

[University Name]Challenging Disability

Introduction

The word disability can be seen in many different ways by different people. World Health Organization (WHO) describes disability in simple words as “Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations (www.who.int)”. In simple words it can be said disability is a condition where a person finds it difficult to carry out his daily routine activities and fulfill his daily tasks. In the modern era there are two main models of disabilities.

Realistically speaking disability can be categorized as physical disability, mental disability, Emotional disability, Spinal Cord Disability, Head Injury or in other words Brain Disability, vision disability, hearing disability, learning disabilities, and psychological disorder and many more (www.disabled-world.com). There are high chances that a person can become a victim of any of these disabilities or he or she might become a victim of combination of any two or more disabilities at the same time. For example if a healthy person gets disabled in an accident. He might get in to emotional disability such as anxiety, or mental or psychological disorder along with physical disability of losing any part of his body in an accident.

There are several models of disability such as medical model of disability, social model of disability, spectrum model of disability, charity model of disability, professional model of disability, charity model of disability, legitimacy model of disability, moral model of disability, social adapted model of disability, economic model of disability and market model of disability. Among all these models the two most common and highly discussed and prioritized models are model of Social disability model and the other is medical disability model. These are the basic models of disabilities (www.disabled-world.com). Initially we will discuss the social model of disability.

Discussion

Social disability

This model of Social disability is well known as The Big Idea of disability movement which took place in Britain. The Social Disability model was first developed by the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) in the year 1976. Later on the theory was given academic worth over time by the famous theorists such as Vic Finkelstein in 1980 and 1981, Colin Barnes in 1991 and Mike Oliver in 1990 and 1996 (www.leeds.ac.uk). Mike Oliver was the scientist who for the first time brought the idea or better be said made the idea public. This model discusses that the actual problem is in the society. The British Social model claims that the disabled people are oppressed group. The model differentiates between people who are disabled and who are actually oppressed. Finkelstein supported the ideology and had given statements such as “It is society that disables us and disabled people are an oppressed social group” (2001b, p. 2). Here his statement clearly states that the apparently disabled people are ...