The social model of disability
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| The social model of disability |
An underpinning principle of the Disability
Equality Duty is the social model of disability, which shifts the focus from
what is ‘wrong’ with a disabled person to what is wrong with attitudes, systems
and practices that create disabling barriers and prevent participation by
disabled people.
The definition in The Duty to Promote
Disability Equality Code of Practice England and Wales (2005) and its
sister publication for Scotland (2005) states:
The poverty,
disadvantage and social exclusion experienced by many disabled people is not
the inevitable result of their impairments or medical health conditions, but
rather stems from attitudinal and environmental barriers.
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| The social model of disability |
The DDA encompasses ways in which education
professionals can work with disabled people to identify organisational and
attitudinal barriers. Together they can develop solutions, make adjustments and
provide support to overcome identified barriers. In this way, the social model
of disability promotes the right of a disabled person to be valued, to
determine choice and to experience full inclusion in society as equal citizens.
Duties under the DDA apply to all staff,
teaching and nonteaching, in all post-school education organisations. The
following sections are relevant to staff fulfilling particular roles.
Section 1:
A brief overview of the DDA from 1995 to 2005. This
section is relevant to all staff.
Section 2:
Leadership and embedding the Disability Equality
Duty to ensure disability equality across the whole organisation.
There are subsections on:
·
Leading
disability equality
·
Involving
disabled people
·
Duties as
an employer
·
Carrying
out impact assessments
·
Gathering
and using information
·
Publishing
the Disability Equality Scheme
·
Annual
reporting
This section is relevant to all those in
strategic senior management positions and also those with a specific remit for
co-ordinating disability equality issues.
The subsection on duties as an employer is of
particular relevance to all human resources staff and also to all line
managers.
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