social vs. medical

Initially formed in the 1960s, the social model was created to limit the control the medical model's firm, damaging, grasp that it had on society. According to the social model, nobody is inherently disabled in a bodily way; one becomes disabled when they are in an environment that is not accessible to them; environments are disabling, not medical impairments. This outlook creates a deeper understanding and forms goals to improve the quality of life for those that are part of the disabled community. the foundations of this model are less damaging to those that do have a form of disability no matter if it is visible or invisible.

However, the medical model of disability has a bit of an earlier origin. Formed in the peak age of medical discovery, it had a foundation of viewing disabilities as a disease that needed to be cured. This idea came to replace the more religious aspect of disability where disabilities were seen as the punishment for sinners. This was debunked with early medical research that changed the religious aspect into solely medical reasoning, though it was still extremely harmful and filled society with fear of those that had a disability. It also created types of guidelines that hurt the disabled community by leaving room for extreme judgment and discrimination for those that have invisible or mental disabilities. The medical model was thought to be revolutionary in terms of viewing disabilities yet only proceeded to cause more damage and the cracks started to show through more as time went on leading to more issues to arise around the stigmas for those with disabilities.

Those that are impacted by the medical model are hit severly by the lack of understanding and the intense discrimination that comes with the fearful aspect the able-bodied community has had deeply ingrained in their lives isnce they were children. The constant lack of understanding and the thought that having a disability is bad or wrong is what has caused the fear that those that are able-bodied to hold in their hearts and has continually lead to intense discrimination not only in public on the streets but also in court rooms, classrooms, and hospitals.