Week 11: Health and Disability

Question 1

individual models of disability (Rioux, 1997)

Answer 1

• disability as an area of professional expertise
• disability as incapacity in relation to non-disabled people
• disability as an anomaly or social burden
• inclusion of people with disabilities as a private responsibility

Question 2

individual models: charity/ deficient model (mallet and runswick-cole, 2014).

Answer 2

• personal tragedy
• deficit focus
• onus is on the individual to manage their difference, to conform

Question 3

individual models: medical model (mallet and runswick-cole, 2014).

Answer 3

• condition
• functional limitation of biological or physiological origin
• object is to ameliorate or fix

Question 4

historical examples: cultural/charity model understandings

Answer 4

• individual model (w/ a supernatural twist)

- disability having demonological causes

Question 5

societal models of disability (Rioux, 1997)

Answer 5

• disability as part of the social structure
• disability as difference rather than anomaly
• inclusion of people with disabilities a public responsibility

Question 6

societal model: legal/human rights/ minority model (mallet and runswick-cole, 2014).

Answer 6

• people w/ impairments face barriers and may not have same full and effective participation in society
• need to promote, protect and ensure full and equal enjoyment of all human rights

Question 7

societal model: social model

Answer 7

• disability as consequence of social barriers

- makes a distinction between impairment and disability

Question 8

compare impairment and disability: SOCIAL MODEL

Answer 8

impairment: lacking part or all of a limb, or having a defective limb, organism or mechanism of the body
disability: the disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by a contemporary social organisation which takes little or no account of people who have physical impairments and thus excludes them from mainstream social activities.

Question 9

compare impairment to disability: international definition

Answer 9

impairment: the functional limitation within the individual caused by physical, mental or sensory impairment
disability: the loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in the normal life of the community on an equal level with others due to physical and social barriers

Question 10

compare impairment to disability: socio-ecological model

Answer 10

society = disability 
body = impairment

Question 11

social model (deinstitutionalisation)

Answer 11

people w/ intellectual disability afforded a greater presence in community, with family

Question 12

negatives to the individual models

Answer 12

• looking at disability as an individual problem to be fixed does nothing to make a more inclusive society
• medical intervention is often constructed by non-disabled people for disabled people

Question 13

negatives to societal models

Answer 13

• societal model pioneers did not want to talk about the effects of impairment or “body”
• focusing only on physical and social barriers does not end prejudice, nor does it prevent people experiencing difficulties arising from their condition.

Question 14

moving away from binary understandings: critical disability studies

Answer 14

• being careful not to see the concerns of the global North as the only truth
• look at disability and how it intersects with other identity positions (gender, race, sexuality, class)
• see the social model of disability as but one of a number of tools for analysis

Question 15

WHO definition of disability

Answer 15

an umbrella term, covering body functions and structures, activity limitations, participation restrictions and contextual influences

Question 16

social determinants of health that impact disabled people

Answer 16

1. (oppressive) distribution of power, income, goods and services
2. (poor) access to health care, education
3. (poor) acces to employment, to community participation (conditions of work and leisure)
4. institutionalisation, peripheral community status (conditions of homes, communities, rural or urban settings)

Question 17

using sociological imagination to make change for people with disability- NDIS

Answer 17

• roll-out of personalised budgets, marketisation of disability services has the potential to both empower people w/ disability and create greater inequalities
• requires capacity on part of service users, availability of services, collaboration between mainstream (state gov.) services and NDIA.

Question 18

potential areas for improvement in NDIS

Answer 18

• transport compensation for people w/ disability, particularly in rural areas
• suitable investment in skills and training of the workforce
• need to monitor services adequately in the free market
• further investment in strategies to improve mainstream services for people w/ disability
• need for alternative funding pathways for people ineligible for NDIS

Question 19

key concerns for the health and well-being for people w/ disability in the global south

Answer 19

• access to care, sanitation, education, employment, and life
• experiences of armed conflict, violence, child labour, malnutrition

Question 20

sociological imagination to make change for people w/ disability in global south:

Answer 20

• eradicate hunger and poverty
• achieve primary universal education
• promote gender equality and empower women
• reduce child mortality
• improve maternal health
  combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and others
• ensure environmental sustainability
• develop global partnership for development