1. Disability Definition
Go Back Disability can be defined in a variety of ways. Different conceptual models have been developed to define disability (Cobley 2018; Goodley 2016). In the medical model, disability is defined as caused by a disease, an injury or other health conditions and it is considered intrinsic to the individual. Under this model, addressing disability requires medical treatment and rehabilitation and an individual with any impairment is considered disabled, regardless of whether the person experiences limitations in his or her life activities due to the impairment.
In the social model, disability is understood as a social construct; disability is not a characteristic of the individual, instead it is created by the social environment and addressing it requires social change. For instance, a person with a physical impairment may be unable to work because workplaces lack ramps and elevators and, thus, are inaccessible.
Since the 2000s, disability has often been defined as an interactional notion, one that results from an individual with a health condition interacting with the environment. The analysis in this study needs to be based on concepts that are in line with human rights and sustainable development approaches to disability. Disability is not understood as a purely medical or social phenomenon, let alone through a charity or moral lens (Goodley 2016). In this study, disability is understood as resulting from a person’s health condition interacting with structural factors and resources. There are several interactional models of disability that this study can be used as conceptual frameworks for this study.
First, the human rights model is an interactional model and frames the CRPD (Degener 2016). As noted by Degener and Quinn (2016), “human dignity is the anchor norm of human rights. Each individual is deemed to be of inestimable value and nobody is insignificant. People are to be valued not just because they are economically or otherwise useful but because of their inherent self- worth <…> The human rights model focuses on the inherent dignity of the human being and subsequently, but only if necessary, on the person’s medical characteristics. It places the individual centre stage in all decisions affecting him/her and, most importantly, locates the main ‘problem’ outside the person and in society.”
Second, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) developed by the WHO in 2001 is an integration of the medical and social models into a biopsychosocial model (WHO 2001, p. 20). According to the ICF, “disability is an umbrella term for impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. It denotes the negative aspects of the interaction between an individual (with a health condition) and that individual’s contextual factors (environmental and personal factors)” (WHO 2001, p. 213). Thus, this model starts with a health condition (for example, diseases, health disorders, injuries, and other health-related conditions) which in interaction with contextual factors may result in impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions.
Also apt for this study is the human development model of disability, health, and well-being, an application of Amartya Sen’s capability approach (Mitra 2018). In this framework, human development is framed as an expansion of practical opportunities (capabilities) and achievements (functionings) for all, including for persons with health conditions and functional difficulties. Diversity is central to the approach: it does not exclude anyone from the theory and personal and structural factors shape capabilities, including how resources may be converted into capabilities. With this model, say to frame an intervention providing social services to persons who had polio, then the outcomes of interest will be individuals’ capabilities or functionings. Policy or service provision is a mean toward human development, i.e., a way to expand relevant capabilities or functionings.
References
Cobley, D. (2018). Disability and International Development: a Guide for Students and Practitioners. Routledge: London.
Degener, T. (2016). A Human Rights Model of Disability. In Blanck, P. and FLynn, E.: Routledge Handbook of Disability Law and Human Rights. Routledge.
Degener, T. and Quinn, G. (2002). A Survey of International, Comparative and Regional Disability Law Reform. In M. L. Breslin and S. Yee (eds), Disability Rights Law and Policy.
Goodley, D. (2016). Disability Studies: an Interdisciplinary Introduction. London: Sage, 2nd edition.
Mitra, S. (2018). Disability, Health and Human Development. Palgrave McMillan: New York.
WHO (2001). International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. World Health Organisation. Geneva: WHO.