Disability and the shift from the medical model to the biopsychosocial model

     When asked to reflect on the medical model versus the biopsychosocial model of disability, I find it’s clear how much our understanding of disability shapes the way we treat and see individuals with disabilities. The medical model views disability as a problem to be fixed, focusing on impairments and medical interventions. While this approach has its place, in ways when you are trying to improve someone's quality of life in our society,  it often overlooks the broader societal factors that contribute to disability, and how people with disabilities live. On the other hand, the biopsychosocial model recognizes that disability is not just about the person's condition but also about the interaction between their body, their environment, and the attitudes of the people who surround them. The biopsychosocial model shifts the focus from “fixing” the person to addressing the barriers that limit the person from daily tasks in our society.

    


From reading this chapter,  I’ve come to realize how societal limitations (not the disabilities themselves) can create the biggest challenges. For example, watching the girl in the wheelchair navigate the icy campus and the bus stop made me think about how much energy and time she had to expend just to get to class. The cold metal of her chair, the extra ten minutes to board the shuttle, and the lack of accessible shortcuts weren’t issues caused by her disability but by an environment that wasn’t designed with her needs in mind. Similarly, the Paralympics highlight how societal attitudes and lack of media coverage can marginalize disabled athletes, making their achievements seem less significant than those of their able-bodied counterparts.

    To better educate others, I think we need to open the conversation on the narrative that disability is inherently a problem, or something that needs fixing. As Stella Young pointed out in her Ted Talk, inspiration porn—portraying disabled people as heroes for doing everyday tasks—reinforces the idea that disability is a tragedy to be overcome. Instead, we should focus on normalizing disability and recognizing that people with disabilities are just as capable, ambitious, and human as anyone else. Social media and other platforms can play a huge role in amplifying disabled voices and showcasing their achievements without pity or exaggerated praise, as long as it's done carefully and unbiased. 

    Shifting from the medical model to the biopsychosocial model requires us to really rethink how we design our world. We should all agree (disabled or not), that accessibility shouldn’t be an afterthought; it should be a priority. By addressing these barriers—whether physical, like ramps and elevators, or societal, like stereotypes and stigma—we can help to create a more inclusive society where disability isn’t seen as something to be fixed but as a natural part of human diversity. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inspiration Porn: Nobody's Getting Off

Image
     My personal experiences with disabilities are limited. Nobody in my immediate circle deals with any obvious physical disabilities, or any noticeable mental disabilities. The only experiences I have had have been through observation of people in spaces that we share, such as school. A more recent observation of mine was watching a girl who was in a wheelchair navigate the narrow opening of the bus stop in front of campus center, and watching the process of the shuttles wheelchair lift in use. A few things I thought about while watching this was how cold the metal on her chair must be (it was 14 degrees outside), and how early she must have to get her day started to account for the extra ten minutes it would take to get her on and off the bus, let alone travel time in the bus, and to class. I thought about how annoying it would be to have a class in a building just across the stairs near the shuttle stop, but having to work your way around the iced and salted campus, s...
Read more

Prosthetics in Sports: Fair or Unfair?

Image
       Adaptive technology in sports is a fascinating topic, but it is also a topic that raises many questions about fairness, accessibility, and how we define fair competition. On one hand, it’s incredible from a scientific and medical standpoint to see how technology like running blades or specialized equipment can level the playing field for athletes with disabilities, allowing them to compete at the highest levels. It’s inspiring to watch athletes push the boundaries of what’s possible and challenge traditional ideas of physical limitations. And it also serves to show other disabled athletes just what they can be capable of with the right aids. On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder about the broader implications, especially for athletes from disadvantaged nations who might not have access to the same resources. Because of this, the conversation moves from abled vs disabled, to privileged vs the unprivileged.       The cost of adaptive tec...
Read more

Media Coverage On the Paralympics

Image
       There are a few things that I think could be done to increase Paralympic media coverage and all other disabled sports combined. First, I think that for more media coverage to be made, there must be more investment into media that covers disabled sports. Not only this, but encouragement should also be made toward larger networks and platforms to stream the Paralympics or Paralympic advertising. Ads are also a great way to bring the Paralympic games to people's attention, although you must be aware how these commercials frame the athletes. While watching the Paralympic commercials for this week's material, I found that they all stood out to me as showcasing the importance of the ability and the humanness of the athletes rather than focusing on the disability of the athlete.       I find that this type of media coverage for disabled people could further serve to address the issues of how people with disabilities are often portrayed in lights t...
Read more