Disability Advocacy

 “Much has been accomplished, but the world continues its struggle to create societies in which disabled persons enjoy the same opportunities as other members of the human family, and are viewed and treated as equal partners in the social, cultural, political and economic life of our communities.”

Kofi Annan, Beirut, Lebanon, 3 December 2001


WHAT IS DISABILITY?

The definition of disability has shifted over the past two or three decades. It used to be defined purely in medical terms as a health condition. This approach located ‘the problem of disability’ in the person with a disability and ‘the solution’ in treating the person with a disability. Now, disability is more often recognized as the interaction between a person and his or her environment, including the social, economic, legal and built environment. This understanding is endorsed by WHO and used in Australia [1].

DEFINITIONS – A DISABILITY ADVOCACY APPROACH

In an effort to promote the social model of disability – an approach that acknowledges three distinct barriers: attitudinal, institutional, and environmental, which marginalise and exclude people with impairments, it is important to understand the difference between disability and impairment. These two terms are often used interchangeably but have distinctly different meanings [2].

Impairment: “Any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function”[3]

Disability: Is the outcome of the interaction between a person with an impairment and the attitudinal and the environmental barriers he/she may face [2].


MODELS OF DISABILITY

Medical Model
• Views PwD as having physical problems to be cured
• PwD relegated to the passive role of patient, with medical personnel and care- professionals making many decisions
• Excessive focus on the desirability of fixing the disabled person’s impairment
• PwD become defined solely in terms of their diagnosis, as a patient with medical needs and no longer as a person with a whole range of needs.

 

 Charity Model

 

• View PwD as victims of impairment and as the beneficiaries of charity, alms, and services
• Services are designed for them and delivered to them, perhaps with the best of intentions, but with insufficient consultation
• Carers may become unacceptably powerful, making decisions about what is best for those in their care.

Social Model
• Identifies three major barriers that confront PwD:
•     Physical (exclusion from the built environment)
•     Institutional (systematic exclusion or neglect in social, legal, educational, religious, and political institutions), and
•     Attitudinal (negative valuations of disabled people by non-disabled people)
• Removing these barriers is possible and has a hugely beneficial impact, both on the lives of disabled people and on the whole community

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Source: ADDC (Australian Disability and Development Consortium) is an Australian based, international network focusing attention, expertise and action on disability issues in developing countries; building on a human rights platform for disability advocacy.