Public transportation without adaptations or seating for disabled passengers, or able-bodied passengers seated in disabled spaces It can emerge in different conscious and unconscious forms including (but not limited to): Environment In present day, while service providers such as ourselves continue to be influenced by medical models, elevating the social model to equal if not stronger importance can help raise equitable participation for everyone-to assist in a therapeutic manner with serious illnesses, disabilities, and other life challenges, while also enhancing community resources.Ībleism is discrimination against disability.Īt its core, Ableism is the assumption that typical abilities are superior to disabilities, and the harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and generalizations that follow ( Access Living, n.d.). Through adaptations such as physical modifications in the environment, expanded social policies and cultural inclusion, participation expands to multiple ways of engagement.įocusing on the medical model-and economic productivity as a marker of ‘success’ or ‘healing’ from disability-creates an emphasis on disability as a lens of deficiency, launching into much of the ableist discourse most disabled people continue to advocate against today (and remains very pervasive-with much research to be done within the intersections of LGBTQIA+, disabled, and people of color) Social model: Society prevents meaningful participation. I must act, behave, communicate, or display as close to typical able-bodiedness to participate in my community. Medical model: My disability prevents meaningful participation. What are the medical and social models of disability? While the video above is a great intro, what it boils down to is how disability is perceived: