Hi Mark
Thanks for your contribution to the cognitive impairment debate.
There is much that I applaud in your message, primarily because it provides
insight that is too often absent in debates on this list. However, I would
suggest that you differentiate between those 'using' the social model for
purely theoretical purposes, and those using the model as a catalyst for
political change.
Academic 'navel-gazing' over the social model may be of dubious practical
value to disabled individuals, but social model principles continue to drive
an expanding and increasingly active disability movement in the UK. I
sometimes wish that some of the 'theorists' spent a little more time with
people who have existed under the burden of tragic or medical perceptions of
disability, and are then introduced to/liberated by the social model.
Flawed though it may be, the social model continues to successfully
challenge taken for granted views of the majority.
As to "people using the social model hardly ever criticize the process of
acute care", this is patently untrue for disability advocacy in the UK and,
albeit via secondary evidence, in the USA.
The organisation for which I work - Disability Awareness in Action [DAA] -
is compiling a database of human rights abuses against disabled people
(measured against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and a high
proportion of cases involve the failure of 'acute care'.
In my experience, staying abreast of 'real world' developments in the
disability movement can be almost impossible, but as someone whose job
involves making that effort, I can assure you that there are many of us
whose daily work involves social model principles, and who are committed to
publicising third-rate care/services for disabled people (whether
self-identified or labelled by others).
Although 'disability studies' may be a trendy (and therefore increasingly
well-funded) discipline, disability advocacy usually remains the remit of
small, poorly funded groups that will never have the time/resources to let a
wider audience know what they are doing (don't I wish we had the time/skill
to develop a disability advocacy mailing list) - but believe me, they are
out there making life uncomfortable for those who would seek to deny
effective healthcare (or dignity) for disabled people.
My plea to you, and any other list members who have waded this far into my
response is to forward evidence of any human rights abuse to DAA or DPI
Europe, for inclusion in our database - a chilling record of abuse affecting
at least 2 million people to date (I emphasise this as the Project has only
been running for six months and with a minimal staff).
Regards
Richard Light
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