Editing Disability (section)

=== Social model ===
{{Main|Social model of disability}}

The social model of disability sees "disability" as a socially created problem and a matter of the full [[Inclusion (disability rights)|integration of individuals into society]]. In this model, disability is not an attribute of an individual, but rather a complex collection of conditions, created by the social environment. The management of the problem requires [[social activist|social action]] and it is the collective responsibility of society to create a society in which limitations for disabled people are minimal. Disability is both [[cultural]] and [[ideological]] in creation. According to the social model, equal access for someone with an impairment/disability is a human rights concern.{{sfn|Nikora|Karapu|Hickey|Te Awekotuku|2004|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Donovan|2012|p=12}} The social model of disability has come under criticism. While recognizing the importance played by the social model in stressing the responsibility of society, scholars, including [[Tom Shakespeare]], point out the limits of the model and urge the need for a new model that will overcome the "medical vs. social" dichotomy.<ref>{{cite book |author=Shakespeare, T. |title=Exploring Theories and Expanding Methodologies: Where we are and where we need to go |author2=Watson, N. |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7623-0773-9 |editor1=Barnartt, S.N. |series=Research in Social Science and Disability |volume=2 |location=Bingley |pages=9–28 |chapter=The social model of disability: An outdated ideology? |doi=10.1016/S1479-3547(01)80018-X |editor2=Altman, B.M.}}</ref> The limitations of this model mean that often the vital services and information persons with disabilities face are simply not available, often due to limited economic returns in supporting them.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parker |first1=Christopher J. |last2=May |first2=Andrew |last3=Mitchell |first3=Val |last4=Burrows |first4=Alison |date=2015 |title=Capturing Volunteered Information for Inclusive Service Design: Potential Benefits and Challenges |url=https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/11589 |url-status=live |journal=The Design Journal |volume=16 |issue=11 |pages=197–218 |doi=10.2752/175630613X13584367984947 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510193642/https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Capturing_volunteered_information_for_inclusive_service_design_potential_benefits_and_challenges/9349877 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |access-date=January 8, 2019 |s2cid=110716823}}</ref>

Some say [[medical humanities]] is a fruitful field where the gap between the medical and the social model of disability might be bridged.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Garden R |year=2010 |title=Disability and narrative: new directions for medicine and the medical humanities |journal=Med. Humanit. |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=70–74 |doi=10.1136/jmh.2010.004143 |pmid=21393285 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

==== Social construction ====
The social construction of disability is the idea that disability is constructed by social expectations and institutions rather than biological differences. Highlighting the ways society and institutions construct disability is one of the main focuses of this idea.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mallon |first=Ron |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/social-construction-naturalistic/ |title=Naturalistic Approaches to Social Construction |year=2014 |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |edition=Winter 2014 |access-date=February 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190318091540/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/social-construction-naturalistic/ |archive-date=March 18, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the same way that race and gender are not biologically fixed, neither is disability.

Around the early 1970s, sociologists, notably Eliot Friedson, began to argue that [[labeling theory]] and [[social deviance]] could be applied to disability studies. This led to the creation of the [[social construction of disability]] theory. The social construction of disability is the idea that disability is constructed as the social response to a deviance from the norm. The medical industry is the creator of the ill and disabled social role. Medical professionals and institutions, who wield expertise over health, have the ability to define health and physical and mental norms. When an individual has a feature that creates an impairment, restriction, or limitation from reaching the social definition of health, the individual is labeled as disabled. Under this idea, disability is not defined by the physical features of the body but by a deviance from the [[social convention]] of health.<ref>{{cite book |last=Freidson |first=Eliot |title=Profession of Medicine: A Study of the Sociology of Applied Knowledge |publisher=Harper and Row |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-06-042205-9 |pages=205–10}}</ref>

The social construction of disability would argue that the [[medical model of disability]]'s view that a disability is an impairment, restriction, or limitation is wrong. Instead what is seen as a disability is just a difference in the individual from what is considered "normal" in society.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burch |first=Susan |title=Encyclopedia of American Disability History Vol. 2 |publisher=Facts on File |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8160-7030-5 |pages=543–44}}</ref>