In the medical model, the body is the prime focus. On the other, society
becomes the focus. It appears that the person has been lost in between. The
reality is, any approach that can fully address the disability phenomenon must
integrate both of
the medical and social models.
Gordon I need to take issue with the above statement that you make because I
believe it articulates ideas which others would not share. In the UK, Maria
Eagle, the Minister for Disabled People's Rights has made similar ill-formed
comments.
The medical model's prime focus isn't "the body" - the focus is the "normal
body" as defined not in terms of medical care, but social acceptance and worth.
It's purpose, therefore, is to address what can be done with and to beings
which fail to
conform to the expected and accepted. Eagle fails to understand that certain
groups using the medical model approach would incorporate her lesbian sister
as in need of a "cure".
There is nothing "progressive" in an approach which imposes values which
demands conformity or expects those that decline to suffer the consequences.
Likewise, I believe people equally misunderstand the social model. The
individual is at the very centre of it. The question is posed: how do we address the
negative interactions between the impaired individual and their social
environment.
In concrete terms this means looking at how to provide adequate, meaningful
health care to those who need it without the glasses (medicalization) which
immediately regards such actions as a costly and unnecessary burden for 'normal
society'.
The medical model doesn't value ALL people - the adoption of a social model
approach should place us in a better position to do so because it looks at how
society can best accommodate the needs and interests of all people - the
medical model demands the opposite!
Bob Williams-Findlay
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